That devastating season 3 death that no Jeremy Renner fan expected was “part of the authenticity of the show”

Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon created Mayor of Kingstown has been in its third season, with Jeremy Renner leading it from the front lines. The show has received a lot of positive feedback from viewers and critics, with people praising the show for its writing and execution. Season three aired in early August, but fans still can’t stop talking about it.

From the very first episode to the very last, the show has had many moments that have shocked and upset fans. With life and death and imprisonment in between, the show has many intense moments and it’s hard not to get sucked into the story. So when something truly devastating happens, it’s not easy for fans to forget.

One Death In Mayor of Kingstown What fans are still recovering from

Mayor of Kingstown is a story about a fictional town where incarceration is the main activity; with the Russian mafia trying to infiltrate the town and its citizens with drugs, g*ns and s*x tr*fficking. Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky, who had to reluctantly become the leader of his family after the death of his older brother three seasons into the series, comes to a point where he feels somewhat comfortable with his job, something he never wanted to be.

But what you want and what life gives you aren’t always the same. And that realization hit head-on when one of the show’s most important characters met a death that no one wanted to see. In a shocking twist, the character Iris, played by Emma Laird, is found dead of an overdose after all the hardships her character has endured to get her life back.

Hugh Dillon wants Mayor of Kingstown To be as authentic as possible

Hugh Dillon recently spoke about how Iris’ death was a necessary evil to keep the show as real and authentic as possible. Happy endings are for movies, reality is bitter. That’s what Iris’ death reminded us of, when the bus conductor found her cold and lifeless in the back of the bus. After all the trouble the character had been through at the hands of the mafia, Konstantin’s murder, betrayal, and finally a chance to get free, it all didn’t matter anymore. She was back to square one, only worse.

Dillon told The Hollywood Reporter:

She didn’t take her own life; it was an accidental overdose. You know, that’s part of the authenticity of the show and where I grew up. I struggled with heroin early in my life and I’ve had a lot of friends who have died from it; opioid addiction is real. What Taylor (Sheridan) taught me is to talk about what you know and not mince your words. And that’s what we did. Life is brutal and unfair and we wanted to tell real stories. And we wanted to have an impact. And that’s as real as it gets.

He certainly did a good job! The show had elements that were somewhat outside of everyday reality, of course. But the writers did their utmost to make things as close to reality as possible. And all of that just makes the show more intense.
Mayor of Kingstown is available on Amazon Prime.