Mayor of Kingstown is a gritty affair. Sure, it has the star power and the drama that one has come to expect from producer/showrunner Taylor Sheridan, but it’s more grounded that Sheridan’s other shows. Mayor of Kingstown delves into the titular town, where the McLusky family keeps the peace and act as moderators between the street gangs, the prisoners, and the police.

It’s a wild story, but the way it’s depicted has led some fans to question whether Mayor of Kingstown is based on a true story. Did the McLusky family, led by Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner), really have to ensure that the town didn’t collapse into chaos? Or was it merely a fabrication on the part of Sheridan and co-creator Hugh Dillon?

The answer, interestingly, is a little bit of both. Technically, the events depicted in Mayor of Kingstown are fictional. There was never a McLusky family, or a group of relatives who held sway over Kingstown. There was never a Kingstown in Michigan, for that matter. There were, however, real life inspirations behind the story. Dillon discussed these inspirations during an interview with Newsweek.

Dillon, who was born in Kingston, Ontario (awfully close to Kingstown), said that a lot of his ideas came from growing up in an area defined by its proximity to prisons. “I can tell you this, I grew up in a town with nine penitentiaries, a maximum, a medium, and a women’s [penitentiary], minimum security,” the co-creator revealed.

“You know, as a kid, my mom was a teacher, my friend’s parents were prison guards, one was a warden, other friends were convicts and it was, you know, in this perfectly cultivated civilized world there’s this brutality and these institutions,” Dillon added. “So, as a kid I was fascinated with it and I remember I’d drive by with my parents and I’d see the guard tower and you think at five and six ‘oh that’s Disneyland’, but it isn’t, it’s the polar opposite.”

Mayor of Kingstown came from a desire to capture these contradictory childhood feelings and apply them to the men and women who navigated them for a living. “As I got older, you see these things that happen in our society, child killers to serial killers to murderers to whatever horrific thing we’re seeing in the news and they’re coming to your town,” Dillon admitted, before going on to admit the effect it had on his own psychology and interests as a storyteller. “Wherever in the country they’ve been captured, they’re coming to your town. So, I don’t know how that bleeds into my psychology or how that works but that’s what I brought.”

Mayor of Kingstown is technically a work of fiction, but there’s something to be said for the real life experience and personal investment that Dillon brings to the table. The best stories have a kernel of truth in them, and the fact that some viewers have to double-check to make sure the story isn’t real is a testament to how convincing it all is. Mayor of Kingstown has not yet been renewed for a third season, but the continued positive reception to the show is a promising sign.

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