Mayor of Kingstown’s Tobi Bamtefa shared his hopes for Bunny in Season 4 and beyond and how he’s grown with his time on the series.
Kingstown follows a town run by Jeremy Renner’s Mike LcLusky, whose reliance on the prison industry brings unique and dangerous dynamics for those living within its borders.
In the Paramount+ original, Bamtefa plays Bunny, the leader of the local gang called the Crips, who has a deep and trusting working relationship with Mike.
[ Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Recap: Everything to Know for Season 3 ]
Tobi Bamtefa Talks Season 4, Hopes for Bunny, and More
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, Mayor of Kingstown actor Tobi Bamtefa, who plays Crips gang leader Bunny, spoke about what fans can expect in Season 3, his future hopes for the character, and more.
When it comes to Season 3, which is now streaming its first three episodes on Paramount+, he teased that "the stakes couldn’t get any higher:"
"It's the stakes. Just when you think the stakes couldn't get any higher. They find a way to. And I think there's a line in Season 2 in which my character says when he's talking to Mike, 'Just when you think this shit couldn't get any worse, this bitch finds a way.' And I think that is essentially the story of ‘Kingstown.’ Just when you think things couldn't get any worse than they currently are. The stakes get higher. And it's like, oh, my gosh, what is going on here? People seem to find the humanity in all of that chaos."
One of the key relationships in the series is between Bamtefa’s Bunny and Jeremy Renner’s Mike.
Bamfeta teased that "as the stakes get higher," the "trust" between them "gets tested… in a very different way:"
"Well, as the stakes get higher, this trust gets tested, but in a very different way. I won't speak too much about that. I will just leave you with that one."
Currently, the show has not been renewed for a Season 4, and Bamtefa "[hasn’t] seen [or] heard anything," adding how he tries "not to bother things like that:"
"I haven't seen [or] heard anything. I don't know what's happening with it. With these things, I believe you have to gauge how the current season is doing before any sort of news will be put out. I try not to bother things like that because it sends my anxiety through the roof. I just let myself control what I can."
While he may not know about the status of a Season 4, Bamtefa admitted how he would like to “see more of why Bunny is Bunny:”
"Honestly, I would like to see more of why we saw glimpses of it in Season 2, but I would like to see more of why Bunny is Bunny. I would like to see that. But like I said, we saw it in Season 2... he has a very shocking penchant for violence, and... he's physically imposing. So, if we can get to see not just the humorous sides of it but also the darker aspects of his character, I would like to explore that and how sort of that develops throughout the story. That's what I would like to see."
As previously mentioned, star Jeremy Renner is a huge part of the series and is often seen onscreen with Bamtefa’s Bunny.
However, early in 2023, the actor was involved in an incident where he nearly died after being crushed by a large Snow Cat (a hefty machine for clearing areas of snow). Thankfully, he made it through and had a full recovery.
Bamtefa noted that Renner’s accident “made [him] reflect on [his] own life:”
"It was fantastic, man... His accident has sort of brought a--It's kind of made me reflect on my own life, to be honest with you, because he's approached it in such a fearless manner that I have to look at myself to try kind of to understand what exactly I am afraid of, in this life, and why I'm afraid of these things, or, you know, or why I hesitated towards certain things."
"He has a very positive perspective," he continued, something he claimed "speaks to not only his strength but also his vitality:"
"I mean, this is somebody who literally had a near-death experience. He was an inch away from dying. And he's come out of it. And he has a very positive perspective, even despite the horror that he's been through. That speaks to not only his strength but also his vitality and the kind of person he is. And it's a lesson that I take for myself. But it was brilliant getting back to work, actually. I learned a few life lessons."
The actor added how it was Renner’s "family and his team" who "allowed him to be able to be vulnerable and also to work:"
"And his family and his team have also sort of, allowed him to be able to be vulnerable and also to work. Do you know what I'm saying? That's really what it's about."
The Direct then asked the actor if there was any experience in his life that he has lived through that he felt is an essential part of being able to play Bunny.
Bamfeta was quick to point to his wife and how important she is to his ability to perform at the level he does:
"My wife. If I hadn't met my wife, if I hadn't experienced my wife and experienced, I guess, the difficulties. The difficulties in actually getting into the career and just in my life in general. I don't think I would have been able to tap into the character with as much depth as [I'm] currently able to do. But my wife is a very key component. In fact, she is the reason for all of this. She directed my self-tape. She gives me a perspective that I haven't seen. She's not in the industry. She's not an actor. She just watches good TV shows. And because of that, she can give me a very real answer on things."
At the end of the day, his time on Kingstown has given Bamfeta a new understanding of acting and improved his own craft thanks to the extremely talented performers around him:
"Honestly, Season 1, my first day on set... I met Taylor Sheridan on set; he was directing one of the episodes, and on that day, I saw Jeremy [Renner] and Kyle Chandler doing a scene by the water, by the river. And this was in Toronto, and I remember seeing it for the first time, watching it from a distance, and you can't tell what's going on. But when you go to the monitors, and you see on the screen the amount of detail that they put into the characters, it all shows, and there are a million things happening. You can literally see each decision being made. And that was when I learned, In that moment, screen acting."
Will Season 4 of Mayor of Kingstown Happen?
The odds of a Season 4 and beyond happening are strong.
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, co-creator and cast member Hugh Dillion revealed that he and Taylor Sheridan plan to end the show with Season 7:
“I've had this show with Taylor for years, so the whole show is a gift to me and my family. There are favorite episodes, there are favorite characters. The whole thing is the world [to me. I will tell you, my favorite season will be season seven, that's when Taylor and I will end it.”
Of course, this ideal outcome still relies on audiences tuning in and watching the show in the first place. As for the quality, it seems to be there, so hopefully, that part is already set.
Fans should also feel confident that those running the show already have a concise plan of how they want the story to unfold.
Thankfully, on top of the talented cast members across the board, Jeremy Renner’s involvement should help draw more general audiences over the year.
With how integral Mike’s relationship with Tobi Bamtefa’s Bunny is, it's hard to imagine their dynamic not being the endgame of the entire series. But will they end up on the same team, or pitted against each other?
Mayor of Kingstown is now streaming on Paramount+.
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