Jeremy Renner says despite the 'Mayor of Kingstown' team making adjustments for him on season 3, he was still worried about filming.
Jeremy Renner was constantly worried about letting himself and his crew members down while filming Mayor of Kingstown season 3.
Talking with ET ahead of the new season dropping on Paramount+ in early June, the 53-year-old actor shared that despite the production team making adjustments to accommodate his recovery and healing body after his near-fatal snowplow accident, he struggled with "basic duties" on set.
"It was something unlike I really felt before, I was in a place of self-doubt," the Hawkeye star shared, adding that he was nervous he wouldn't be able to "perform just basic duties like walking."
Of his mindset going into filming, he recalled thinking at the time, "I don't know if I'm physically capable of -- 'cause you know, it's 12 hours, 14 hours on a set. Whether you're doing stunts or not, it's exhausting."
According to Renner -- who had to be airlifted to a hospital and undergo emergency chest surgery after being crushed by a snowcat in January 2023 -- the show began filming its highly anticipated third season on what he calls the "one year anniversary of his death."
He says that his emotions were heightened as he returned to work, not only because he was excited to be back, but because he was also deeply anxious about being able to do his job in a way that everyone was expecting him to. It took a toll not only physically as he was receiving treatments and doing physical therapy to get back to normal, but mentally and emotionally, too.
"That doesn't feel very good, doesn't make me feel confident 'cause I'm not confident in my body, my ability, right? So I wasn't quite there yet," he said of his first days back.
Luckily for the star of the show, his cast and crew members were with him every step of the way and helped to "figure it out" together, making little adjustments here and there to get the scenes and episodes filmed.
One of the adjustments included a shortened shooting schedule as they quickly realized Renner wouldn't be able to go on for 12 or 14 hours -- which can be considered normal working days on a film or television set -- and especially not for so many days in a row. That realization came after Renner got a little sleepy as they were working.
"I fell asleep in the middle of a scene," the actor said of discovering he didn't have the same amount of energy that he did pre-accident. "They're like, 'And action,' and I was like out, snoring."
Renner joked, "At the end [of shooting the season], it was scheduling me more like a 14-year-old, so like, you know, certain amount of hours, more breaks and that kind of stuff."
His accident didn't just impact the shooting schedule, however. According to the Avengers actor -- who recently revealed to ET he would be down to reprise his role as Hawkeye soon -- he was able to bring a new level of depth to his character, Mike McLusky, because of his brush with death.
"I inserted a lot of what I was feeling into that moment," Renner said, describing his character as having for more "intimate" and "delicate" scenes with his castmates throughout the new season than in the past.
The actor said Mike has "a bit more delicacy to him this season because of [being] forced to be informed by my condition."
The show follows the McLusky family, power brokers in the town of Kingstown, Michigan, "where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry," according to a description from the streaming service. The latest season sees Renner's character working to end a drug war inside and outside the prison and struggling to keep the city and its citizens safe.
Watch the trailer for Mayor of Kingstown season 3 in the player below:
Mayor of Kingstown -- which also stars Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dylan, Emma Laird and Kyle Chandler -- hits Paramount+ on June 2.
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