Taylor Handley as Kyle McLusky in 'Mayor of Kingstown.' Jeremy Parsons/Paramount+ Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains major spoilers from the Mayor of Kingstown season four finale.] If one Mayor of Kingstown character holds the moral high ground in a town full of hard time prisoners, corrupt cops, gangsters and weary prosecutors, it's Mike McLusky's (Jeremy Renner) younger brother Kyle McLusky, played by Taylor Handley. Since the first season, Kyle presented himself as a young detective on Kingstown's highly corruptible police department who wanted to get along with his colleagues, protect the citizens of his dangerous crime-written city, and get home safe to wife Tracy (Nishi Munshi) and their newborn baby boy. The goal was to save enough money to move out of the dreary town and find a police department in a quieter, safer city. But being the baby brother of Kingstown fixer Mike, who took over the job from their murdered older brother Mitch McLusky (Kyle Chandler) in season one, what was once a reachable dream has became unobtainable, as Kyle has gradually become more and more of a victim of the corrupt Kingstown with each season. True to his nature, Kyle decided to make himself a sacrificial lamb and did a six-month bid in prison to protect a rogue officer from being forced to testify - an act that might bring down the entire Kingstown Police Department and his brother as a result. But as viewers learned in the tragic final two episodes of season four, it would have been better for the goodhearted protector to have minded his own business and looked out for himself - or those he loves most will pay the price. The Hollywood Reporter recently caught up with Handley about that tragic arc of Kyle's wife being brutally murdered while he was in prison, the threats to his son and the shifting relationship with Mike that might severely impact the McLusky family forever when the newly announced fifth and final season returns. [Editor's note: This interview took place before the season five renewal news was announced.] *** When you first saw the script for season four, what were your thoughts about the hardships and heartbreaks coming for Kyle this season? I just went, "This is everything I could have hoped for... let's go!" He's the center of the conflict. A cop goes to prison, everybody knows that's not a good thing. So right away, everybody is put on notice. The audience is going, "Here's the fresh-faced detective who's not so fresh anymore. He's going to do a six-month bid, how is this going to play out?" I thought it was a great decision by the creators. Did you have any idea in advance how Kyle's storyline was going to go with such great loss and darkness? Yes. At the finale of season three, Kyle is seen getting carted off in the back of a cop car. I had heard murmurs that he was going to do some time. Again, you go, "Please, just go all out!" And I can happily say they really have. We're on season four, and we have season five coming out. From here on out, it just goes harder and harder and harder. It's coming together so good. And I felt a lot of love on set. I felt the magic on set, and now I'm seeing it while watching it all come together. Taylor Handley as Kyle McLusky. Jeremy Parsons/Paramount+ In the first episode this season, Kyle was beaten nearly to death by an inmate trying to make a name for himself in killing a cop. Then there were intense scenes of your character and an attempted rape in prison, all culminating to that tense moment when you hear a murderous Aryan Brotherhood member (Merle Callahan) in a home with your wife and child in the background. How did you prepare for such a physical and emotional ride? Great question. This season, I knew it was going be a mountain to climb. When I was shipping off to Pittsburgh to go film, I was telling my wife: I got a mountain to climb. I'm really looking forward to it, but it's going to be tiresome. Just going through all the emotional stress that Kyle has to go through, you want your performance to be the most truthful it can be, so you have to pull out all the stops to make it the best you can. Not only is there the physical stuff Kyle goes through, that I went through, but it's the emotional. You go to some dark places in your imagination, and sometimes you pull from personal experience, but you try not to do that too much. You don't want to have to wind up in therapy after a season. After filming some of these scenes, you don't want to go and get a little therapy? After a day of filming, you gotta go home, put your feet up, put on Seinfeld or something, and order Uber Eats. Some comfort food, and just relax, and make sure you get a nice night's sleep and wake up in the morning to start all over again. Kyle goes to prison in what