Spoilers for the Season 4 finale of Mayor of Kingstown are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the show with a Paramount+ subscription.
Mayor of Kingstown has come to a close on the 2025 TV schedule, and unlike MOK’s Season 3 ending, Season 4 left us on a high(ish) note. Of course, since this is Kingstown, the ending was intense, dark and gruesome; however, it closed with a scene between Mike (Jeremy Renner) and Kyle (Taylor Handley) that was so loving I had to ask the cast about it. And during that discussion, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Renner actually improvised it.
In the final moments of a brutal season of Mayor of Kingstown, Kyle, who was in prison for most of it, is finally out, and he gets to take Merle Callahan (Richard Brake) out. Rather than Mike taking out this season’s big bad, his little brother gets to do it, which makes sense considering Kyle was tormented by Merle all season in prison. Then, after it’s all over, the McLusky brothers hug on the train tracks and the season ends.
I was quite moved by this moment, and knew I had to ask Taylor Handley about it. I was surprised to learn that it was actually improvised by Renner, and the Kyle actor told me the story behind how it all happened, explaining:
Well, it just kind of leads to the genius and the truth-seeking that Renner does as an actor, you know? After that scene and after that, you know, crescendo, we’re walking across the tracks, and we're just supposed to kind of walk to the car.
The death of Merle really feels like a big moment of closure for Mike and Kyle. They’d both been dealing with the corruptness of the prison system for years, and over the course of four seasons, it’s led to a lot of death and destruction in their family.
Merle was one of the biggest pains for them. So seeing him dead and the two brothers walking away victorious was momentous. Then, having them share a hug on the train tracks after it was all over felt perfect. They could finally breathe.
Initially, it wasn’t scripted that way, though. In fact, that hug was improvised by Renner, and Handley described what it was like to play all that out with him, saying:
But you know, Renner, he's always got his spidey senses going, and we knew that there was a crane on the tracks. And so he just kind of stopped me. And he just stopped me in my tracks, and just gave me that, you know, hands on the shoulder, brother look, and just gave me the hug.
In the moment, you can see Kyle kind of let go and lean into his brother as they share a hug. Considering everything he’d specifically been through this season, it was particularly impactful.
Handley explained that to me as well. He noted that Mike hugging his character was exactly what he needed, and he was glad his co-star thought of it. In his words:
It was so smart because the character Kyle had been holding so much in, and he just got this massive, you know, adrenaline release. And it was a special moment. It wasn't scripted. It was just exactly [what it] was like to be living in the moment when, yeah, you know, dealing with a certain scenario like that.
After a season that saw power shift in Kingstown with the new warden and power players, like Merle, trying to cause chaos, it was nice to finally see the McLusky’s get some closure. They deserve it after all these seasons filled with death and destruction.
So, I’m happy this great Paramount+ show ended on a high note (or at least high by Kingstown standards), and now I’m curious to see how Mike and Kyle’s story continues if Mayor of Kingstown gets a fifth season.
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