The show Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner in the lead role, has been a real hit for Paramount Plus. So far, we’ve had two seasons of Mike McLusky trying to walk the tightrope of handling all the players in the incredibly profitable incarceration business in Kingstown, Michigan. One of the more mysterious characters mentioned in the show is Terry, who’s only alluded to, but plays a big role in the eighth episode of the second season. So who is he?
In addition to Renner, the show stars Dianne Wiest as Mariam McLusky, Hugh Dillon as Ian Ferguson, Tobi Bamfeta as Bunny, Taylor Handley as younger brother Kyle, and many other notable names. It was released in November of 2021, and was recently renewed for a third season, although due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, that might not be out for a while.
All we know about season 3 right now is that Wiest isn’t coming back, which wasn’t the hardest thing to figure out, considering she was accidentally shot by Kyle. We also know that the script for the next season was already written before the strike, so that’s good news at least.
The third season will probably delve deeply into how Kyle deals with the guilt of accidentally killing his own mother.
Who created the ‘Mayor of Kingstown?’
The show was created by Taylor Sheridan, who also created the incredibly popular show Yellowstone, and Dillon, who plays Ian Ferguson. Dillon told CNN earlier this year that he had personal experiences with jails and prisons from growing up in a Canadian town that had a number of them.
“I’m interested in the ethical drift, I’m in interested in the desensitization of both the prisoners and the guards and the world,” Dillon said. “That’s the town I’m from. So it has, it leaves an impact and we just dive into it.”
Taylor Handley, who plays Mike’s younger brother on the show, said the show is intentionally gritty and edgy.
“You know, a lot of other shows are nice and poetic, ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ punches you in the face and takes your lunch money,” Handley said. “While it is dark and it is violent, there’s so much heart with all the characters and you know, you really end up rooting for all these people.”
One of the breakout characters in the show is the excellent Bamfeta, who’s actually a British actor, making his turn as the streetsmart Bunny all the more impressive. He also gave his take on the theme of the show.
“I believe the crux of this show is about humanity,” he said. “In this show and in this world of Kingstown, we are watching people placed in very extreme circumstances, it’s a prison town and people make what comes across as dubious decisions. But, within this world, they actually make perfect sense.”
Who is Terry in ‘Mayor of Kingstown?’
This question is a little more nuanced than just a straight answer. Terry is basically just a plot point in the episode “Santa Jesus,” where Mike takes a sort of day off and gets drunk and wanders the city. Eventually, he runs into another woman drowning her sorrows in booze named Allison, played by character actress Callie Thorne.
Sparks fly immediately between the two, and they end up sleeping together. It turns out that Mike actually knew Allison’s ex husband, named Terry. The only things we gleam about Terry come from the conversations in the episode.
The truth is it doesn’t really matter “who” Terry is, it’s more about the backstory and fleshing out narratives of the show. Here’s what we do know: Terry worked at the prison in some capacity. From context clues, he was probably a prison guard affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood, and was killed in the deadly riots at the prison.
Mike didn’t even seem to know that Terry had died until Allison told him. Allison also shows her true colors for Mike as the “Mayor,” when she expresses her contempt for him and his position. There’s always the possibility that she blames him for her husband’s death.
With all these pieces in place, and the fact that Mike is friends with Bunny, and Allison makes a racist comment, we can assume that someone from the Brotherhood wants to murder Mike, and Allison is a part of that plot. This comes from Bunny warning Mike there’s a hit out on him as well.
One theory is that Mike took the day off to “flush out” whoever was trying to kill him by wandering the streets. He goes from bar to bar to let everyone in town know that he’s drunk and probably vulnerable, which would make him an easy target.
Eventually he runs into Allison, and he knows she has ties to the Brotherhood through Terry. He sleeps with Allison, and the next morning he flushes out the assassination attempt and kills Davidson by shooting him while Davidson tries to run him down.
A few things give credence to this theory: One is Allison’s relationship with Milo. The other is more clear: Allison’s phone call with someone about Mike, and her subsequent attempt to get him to stay longer by offering him a drink.
This would mean that she wants someone to blame for her husband’s death, and Mike is the easy scapegoat. To summarize: Terry is Allison’s husband, who was probably a guard in the prison, and likely killed during the riots. Allison and the Brotherhood blame Mike, and want to kill him as revenge. Mike hears about this from Bunny, and takes a day to flush out his would-be assassin. He does this masterfully.
This probably means that Terry is just a plot point to move the story forward, and a device to deepen Mike’s relationship with Bunny, so the two can eventually repair their relationship after Bunny’s stint in jail. We’ll have to see as it plays out.