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When Jeremy Renner got back to work after his near-fatal snowplow accident, it was on one condition.
The actor, 54, was trying to save his nephew when he was run over by a 14,300-pound snowplow in what authorities called a “tragic accident” in January 2023. He returned to work the following year on Mayor of Kingstown season 3, and is now gearing up for the premiere of the Paramount+ series’ fourth season later this month.
As Hugh Dillon, who plays Ian and is also an executive producer and co-creator of the series, tells PEOPLE, “When he came back [on set], I remember I had to promise his mom that we’d take care of him.”
“I mean, he was in such a vulnerable place and [co-creator] Taylor Sheridan always said, ‘Whatever it takes,’ ” Dillon, 62, says. “We just have a really kind of intimate connection from working so much, and he was in such a vulnerable place, and, for me to go up and see him and talk to his family, to get where we’re going, was super personal.”
Stephanie Augello/Variety via Getty
“It’s not just, you know, get to the end of the season or get to the end of the scene,” Dillon continues. “It’s like, with the titanium in his body, I want him to be happy. I want him to be… This is his life. It’s not just work.”
As Renner tells PEOPLE, “My mom would kill Hugh if he did anything wrong.”
In the weeks following Renner’s accident, Dillon, 62, told Extra the actor had an “unstoppableness” to him that would see him push through and come out the other end.
“He’s gonna be a handful. He’s gonna be pissed off and ready to rock,” Dillon said. “He’s the captain of the most dangerous show on television, and he’s going to dominate.”
Ahead of the premiere of season 3 of the hit Paramount+ crime thriller, Renner told PEOPLE that he “was not in really great shape” when he first got back to work after the accident.
“In the beginning, I think because I hadn’t seen anybody — and these are all people I worked with for two seasons already — I hadn’t really got to talk to anybody. They didn’t know what version of Jeremy would come back,” he said.
Dennis P. Mong Jr./Paramount+
As he settled back into things, he said he “actually kind of needed to be treated with kid gloves” at first.
“I had to physically lean on people, emotionally lean on them, and they took care of me,” he said. “I did my best to take care of them and get through the show as best we could, and we worked together and made it happen.”
That was going to be his new normal, and he knew it. “There’ll be nothing normal or as it was prior to the accident,” he said. “I’m okay with that. I accept it.”
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Mayor of Kingstown season 4 premieres Oct. 26 on Paramount+
