Sumith Prasad
The third season of Paramount+’s crime drama series ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ ends with a startling revelation concerning Iris. Due to Mike’s insistence, she gets on a bus to leave Kingstown for good. Even though she expresses her wish to remain in the town with him, the Mayor dissuades her by stating that nothing good will happen if she continues to stay in the place. Without any other way in front of her, she ends up on the bus, only for a man to find her dead in the last few minutes of the installment. Since Iris dies off-screen, the revelation raises many questions concerning her death! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Iris Dies on Her Own Terms
Iris seemingly kills herself. When Mike asks her to leave Kingstown and live without him, she loses the only person who has been with her through thick and then. Throughout her life, Konstantin and Milo used her. Such a life changes when she ends up under the Mayor’s wings. He not only protects her from Milo but also becomes her support system. He is the only one who fights for her, even if it means risking his own life. She loses everything Mike is for her when he joins the two Russian mobsters and asks her to leave.
Obviously, Mike asks Iris to leave with the hope that she will survive somewhere else. Kingstown has become a war zone ever since the Crips, Russians, and the Aryans have started to fight each other for their supremacy. The Mayor doesn’t want Iris to get trapped in the conflict and somehow perish. She has risked her life enough for him by being his spy to track Konstantin. He will not be able to forgive himself if something happens to her under his watch, especially after losing Mariam. But he does not realize that he cannot uproot a plant and expect it to bloom elsewhere.
Iris eventually decides that death is better than living when she cannot be hopeful about her future. Without a support system, a life filled with trauma is nothing but suffering for her. After Mike joins her enemies to kill her freedom, she has experienced everything her heart can handle. Thus, she must have used some drugs to die, considering the way her dead body is found.
Emma Laird’s Exit From Mayor of Kingstown
Even though the renewal of ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ for its fourth season is impending, there are signs that Paramount+ will greenlight another installment of the crime drama. When that happens, Emma Laird will not be a part of the same. Iris’ death concludes her story arc satisfactorily. Considering that she leaves Kingstown with a new identity, she may not even get traced back to the town for Mike to learn about her death. If she has crossed the jurisdiction of the KPD, the Mayor may remain under the impression that Iris hasn’t reached out to him because she has severed all ties with her past.
Laird’s Iris can appear in the show again if there is a mystery behind her death. However, the only person who ever wanted her dead is Milo. Since Mike kills him, the mobster cannot order her murder. The chances of someone observing his death to exact revenge on Iris on behalf of Milo are little to none, and such a development doesn’t present any scope for the show to build on. Another possibility is she appears in Mike’s dreams or visions, which is highly unlikely considering that the crime drama doesn’t employ these narrative devices.
Laird already thanked the creators and viewers of the show, hinting at her departure from the series. “From the bottom of my heart, viewers and creatives of the show, thank you for all the love & support ‘n all that over the years. It’s been one hell of a ride for us all,” she wrote back in April 2024. Therefore, we can bid adieu to Iris and await the actress’ upcoming performances in Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Fackham Hall,’ starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Thomasin McKenzie.
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