Jeremy Renner’s 2023 New Year’s Day was a thing of nightmares. While he was clearing a driveway near his Nevada home, the actor had a traumatic accident involving a snowplow. It took some really crucial surgeries and immense physiotherapy before the actor was back on his legs.
Hugh Dillon’s Respect For Jeremy Renner Only Increased After The Snowcat Accident
Jeremy Renner had pretty extensive injury when a snowcat ran him over on Jan 1, 2023. While things looked pretty dicey in the beginning, Renner made quick recovery after multiple surgeries. Just a few days after the accident, the MCU actor was already updating fans in how he was doing, even if he was still in the hospital bed.
On the second week of January 2023, Mayor of Kingstown was back with its second season. And even though he was still bound inside the hospital, Renner did not skip on his duties as the lead of the show. He kept tweeting about it and even said that he was looking forward to watching the show with his family once he was back home.
Hugh Dillon, who co-created the show alongside Taylor Sheridan, said that Renner being so enthusiastic even at a time like this did not surprise him. Calling him the captain of a hockey team “who’s been injured,” Dillon spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, right after the second season premiered back in January 2023, about how positive Renner had been throughout the process.
We’re like a hockey team. He’s our captain who’s been injured, and that’s really all of it. He’s a fucking fighter. Excuse my language, but that’s the glory of that dude.
Further adding about Renner’s positive attitude, the show’s co-creator said:
That’s the thing about Jeremy. He just doesn’t want anything to get in the way, you know? He’s a stand-up fucking dude. He just wants it to rock.
Renner did not want the show to be postponed because of the accident, even though the press junket had to be cancelled as he was unable to attend. But he kept the social media buzz going, and Mayor of Kingstown had high viewership in its second season, which led to the show being extended.
Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon Always Wanted Jeremy Renner to lead Mayor of Kingstown
According to Hugh Dillon, the idea of Mayor of Kingstown was always there in his head. But it was in 2008, that he first pitched the idea to Taylor Sheridan, when the latter was his acting coach. It took them another decade to get the show made. But one thing that they both agreed on was that they wanted Jeremy Renner to lead the show.
The first draft of Mayor of Kingstown came long before Sheridan found fame with Sicario (2015) or Hell or High Water (2016). But by then, he had found the confidence to direct his own project, which ended up being Wind River (2017) starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen. The movie, in a way, was to get a feel, if Renner would be interested in the show. In the same interview, Dillon revealed:
We were always like, “Renner is the guy and Dianne Wiest …” So they were always our first choices, and that’s the beauty of working with Taylor. We’ve been tight for so long, and he always goes with that first instinct. He’s great at following through with that.
He then went on to say how Wind River became a feeler for Renner and revealed how it all came to be.
It all became a reality. Renner was in it, and I played the bad guy. So it was always bubbling underneath, “Well, what about Mayor?” And that’s where it first came up. I didn’t talk to Jeremy about it then; I was just happy to be there.
Thankfully, Renner saw the potential in the script and said yes right away. Currently, Mayor of Kingstown is airing it’s third season, with episodes dropping weekly. With two episodes already out, Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky is facing new challenges in the form of new villains, and the audience is eating it all up.
All episodes of Mayor of Kingstown are available on Paramount+.
