It seems mama McLusky is down for the count. Two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest will not be returning to Mayor of Kingstown for its third season, sources say. The actress played family matriarch Mariam McLusky.
In the Paramount+ drama's second season finale, Mariam was hospitalized after being accidentally shot in the stomach by the youngest brother, Kyle McLusky and underwent surgery. Rumors of a grim outcome and thus Wiest’s potential departure ran for months, and intensified as details of season three's scripts, which were written before the writers strike and paused for it now get to be finalized as the strike ends, surfaced.
Created by Yellowstone and Lawmen creator Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, Mayor Of Kingstown centers on the McLusky family, who act as power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where prison is the only profitable thing in town. The season 3 renewal was confirmed a few weeks ago after series star and executive producer Jeremy Renner teased it as early as late May. Co-creator Dillon also co-stars as Kingstown Police Detective Ian Ferguson with Taylor Handley as youngest McLuskey brother Kyle, Emma Laird as escort Iris, Tobi Bamtefa as Crips leader Deverin "Bunny" Washington, Derek Webster as ally KPD Detective Stevie, Nishi Munshi as Kyle’s wife Tracy, Hamish Allan-Headley as Sgt. Robert Sawyer and Aidan Gillen as Russian mobster Milo Sunter.
The series is believed to be one of Paramount+’s top performing original dramas, only behind Sheridan’s 1923 and Tulsa King while in season, at least as far as what the studios shared. Wiest's Academy Awards came from her roles in the Woody Allen films Bullets over Broadway and Hannah and Her Sisters. She also appeared in such films as The Lost Boys, The Birdcage, Edward Scissorhands and Dan in Real Life. Her previous regular television roles include Friday patient Gina Toll on In Treatment and Joan Short on the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces.
