No show is safe these days from being unceremoniously axed by their corporate overlords. That makes it extra exciting when an ongoing series is granted further installments — especially if that renewal might mean more work for Pittsburgh’s film community.
Paramount+ has officially picked up a third season of “Mayor of Kingstown,” the streamer confirmed to the Post-Gazette Wednesday afternoon. The crime drama from “Yellowstone” mastermind Taylor Sheridan shot its second season throughout Western Pennsylvania last year.
A Paramount+ spokesperson confirmed that season three will also be filmed in the Pittsburgh area, though there’s no word yet on a potential start date.
“Mayor of Kingstown” follows Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner), a local power broker trying desperately to keep something resembling peace in the fictional town of Kingstown, Michigan.
The show’s status had been up in the air ever since Renner’s January snowplow accident that he told Diane Sawyer in April left him with more than 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung and a pierced liver.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg wrote that Renner “is set to return to his starring role” in season three of “Mayor of Kingstown.”
“Sources say the series had been quietly picked up months ago but the streamer delayed a formal announcement for the crime drama’s return while Renner recovered from his injuries,” Goldberg added.
Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn Keezer has been insisting since August that “Mayor of Kingstown” would have likely already started filming its third season here here if it wasn’t for most film production being shut down nationwide during SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America’s ongoing labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
She “fully expected it to be renewed” and is just happy that “Paramount+ agreed that it’s a great show.”
“We are beyond thrilled to be welcoming back ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ for season three,” Keezer continued. “The Southwest Pennsylvania region loves working with our wonderful partners at 101 Studios and Paramount+. We are looking forward to the first day of principal photography [and] getting all of our amazing crews back to work once the strikes are settled, hopefully soon.”
Keezer also expects that a third season of “American Rust,” which wrapped production on its Pittsburgh-shot second season in April, would be made in this area. Unfortunately, she no longer feels as confident about “A League of Their Own” coming back to the region after Amazon Prime Video reversed course on its season-two renewal last month.
“A League of Their Own” is on a growing list of titles that includes fellow Amazon show “The Peripheral” and Hulu series “The Great” and “How I Met Your Father” to have been canceled in recent weeks. There is some hope, though, for “A League of Their Own” fans thanks to co-creator Will Graham” confirming on social media that “we’re definitely going to shop it” to other potential suitors.
“Unless someone else picks it up, we are not expecting to see ‘A League of Their Own,’” Keezer said. “We’re hopeful another network sees the value and steps up and takes it.”
Pittsburghers in the mood for some fresh locally shot content can look forward to Netflix’s civil rights biopic “Rustin” on Nov. 17 and the Ethan Coen-directed road trip comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” on Feb. 23, 2024. Neither “American Rust” season two nor Netflix’s Lee Daniels-directed horror film “The Deliverance” have a firm release date yet.
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: September 6, 2023, 9:35 p.m.
Updated: September 7, 2023, 1:59 a.m.
