Jeremy Renner Says He Was Too 'Worried About Real Life' to Tell 'Fictional Stories' While Recovering from Injury

Season 3 of Paramount+'s 'Mayor of Kingstown' marks Renner's first project since his life-threatening snow plow accident in January 2023

Jeremy Renner faced some fears as he got back to work on Mayor of Kingstown one year after his near-fatal snow plow accident.

For season 3 of the Paramount+ series, the actor, 53, juggled his ongoing physical recovery from the life-threatening accident, which took place on New Year's Day 2023, with the demands of leading the show, and he said there was a "perspective I had to shift."

"I had to cross the threshold of, 'Do I want to go tell fictional stories?' I'm worried about real life — putting a foot in front of another to walk," Renner said in an interview on Good Morning America on Wednesday, May 22. "I think what happened is we just switched the thinking of the whole thing. I didn’t go to Pittsburgh to film Mayor of Kingstown, I went to go in my recovery and then Kingstown was kind of on the side."

Related: Jeremy Renner Recalls Falling Asleep Filming Mayor of Kingstown, Being Treated Like a 'Child Actor' After His Accident

Renner admitted he can be quite "headstrong," and that was something he had to work on changing while working on the show.

"My mind thinks I’m like, perfect. My body is saying, ‘Dude, you’re a hot mess! Chill out, pump the breaks, man!’," the Oscar nominee said. "But again, nothing is wrong with my brain, even though it got crushed."

The show adapted alongside him, though, as he teased that there are "more emotional, intimate" moments this season that offer a "reprieve" from the usual intensity.

"There's more sentiment to it, because I think I sort of had to bring it in a little bit, just because of where I was at in my life," Renner told GMA. "Mike McLusky is still pretty aggro, but I think he's a little softer as well, just sort of 'cause I had to play him."

The Marvel star told PEOPLE in January that he was "a little bit scared" to return to Mayor of Kingstown, his first project since his accident a year and a half ago.

Related: Jeremy Renner Recalls 'Great Chats' with Robert Downey Jr. When He Was in ICU: ‘Like We Were Dating’ (Exclusive)

“I try to just do everything kind of step by step here. That's one foot in front of the other one. Then you're walking,” he said. “I think I'm excited when I'm there and I get in a rhythm there. I'm excited about the character and, of course, all the people involved and all that in the storyline, but for me, I'm just tentative of confidence in work."

He noted how "arduous” Kingstown can be, as it requires between 14- and 18-hour work days “in the freezing cold outside in Pittsburgh." Renner said he felt “scared of slipping and falling” in particular since he doesn’t have all his “lower body strength” back at its previous level.

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Season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown premieres June 2 on Paramount+.

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