Mayor of Kingstown is back, and the scale of the Jeremy Renner-led prison drama is bigger than ever. While season 1 of the Paramount+ series filmed in co-creator Hugh Dillon's hometown of Kingston, Ontario, the show migrated to Pittsburgh for its gritty season 2. And, according to Dillon, Kingstown has met its match in the Steel City.
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"We wanted to scale up for season two," Dillon told Pennsylvania-based outlet Trib. "Pittsburgh had all of these decommissioned prisons. And when I scouted it, I just fell in love with it. That place is it. We got 10 seasons mapped out. So yeah, we're not leaving. Kingstown will never leave Pittsburgh."
Carrie Blast Furnaces
Credit: Rivers of Steel
In the aftermath of the season 1 finale's explosive prison riots, Mayor of Kingstown's new clink is a "Tent City" of outdoor beds in a fenced-in area. The makeshift prison was shot at the historic Carrie Blast Furnaces along the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. Erected in 1884, Carrie Furnace ceased operating in 1982. Today, the massive structures are one of the last remnants of Pittsburgh's steel-works legacy.
Dillon said that while co-creator Taylor Sheridan didn't visit the Season 2 set, the prolific producer instantly fell in love with Carrie Blast Furnaces as the filming location of the makeshift prison. "Taylor is the last word on everything," Dillon told Trib. "He's uncompromising. And he just intuitively knows the show. Everything's run by him, even costumes, locations. Taylor loved Carrie Furnace. We showed him pictures and intuitively, he's like, 'Carrie Furnace, that's it.'"
Lake Erie
Credit: Dennis P. Mong Jr./Paramount+
Season 2 is packed with water scenes, from Mike's seized sailboat to Kyle's border patrols. The scenes were shot on Lake Erie, with picturesque views of the Presque Isle peninsula in the background.
Abandoned Prisons
Credit: @sketchyjawns via Abandoned Central
The series shot extensively at two abandoned Pennsylvania penitentiaries: SCI Pittsburgh on the banks of the Ohio River and SCI Greensburg.
Hartwood Acres Mansion
Credit: Mike Murphy, Creative Commons License BY-SA 3.0
The production filmed scenes at the historic Hartwood Acres Mansion, just a few miles outside downtown Pittsburgh. The stately main house was built in 1929 and is situated on over 600 acres of green space. The Pale Blue Eye, a recent Netflix film starring Christian Bale, also filmed at the mansion and the Hartwood stables, as reported by Atlas of Wonders.
Kingston Penitentiary
Credit: SkyF via Getty Images
Dillon based the series on his upbringing in the prison town of Kingston in Ontario, Canada. Much of season 1 was filmed on-location in Kingston, including at the maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary, which closed in 2013 but remains open for tours.
New episodes of Mayor of Kingstown stream Sundays exclusively on Paramount
