SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 9.

Matthew Del Negro finds himself at the center of one of the biggest moments in Mayor of Kingstown history. He stunned viewers during Season 4, Episode 9, “Teeth and Tissue” when his character, Will Breen, murdered almost everyone in Ad Seg. But that moment was more than just a violent explosion—it was the culmination of Breen’s arc in a way that was unexpectedly sympathetic.

Audiences were well aware of Breen’s terrible history with Tracy McLusky during Season 3, and he certainly hadn’t changed by Season 4. But seeing him heckled to the point of homicide made audiences view him as more than a one-note antagonist. They could grasp why Breen would go to such lengths, and were left to wonder what else they didn’t know about him. In an interview with TVBrittanyF.com, Del Negro shared his reaction to Breen’s jaw-dropping fate and explained how he approached such a polarizing character. Plus, learn how he’s creating his own stories.

Brittany Frederick: When did you know that Breen was coming back for Mayor of Kingstown Season 4—and what his storyline was going to be? Did you expect it, or did it take you by surprise, too?

Matthew Del Negro: The history of this show with me is that I did [the movie] Wind River with Taylor [Sheridan] and Hugh [Dillon], and so I met both of them on that job. Jeremy [Renner] was on that as well, but I had known him from when I first moved out to L.A. I had known him socially, but I hadn’t seen him in a while.

On Wind River, Hugh told me about where he grew up and told me the whole story of him living in this town with all these prisons… He’s like, Taylor’s my acting coach. We’re gonna make it into a show. I was like oh, cool. I read it back then. He had written it like ten years prior, and that was 2016, so I read it imagining this low-budget thing they’re going to scrape together. Then Yellowstone comes out, then Kingstown comes out. It’s huge.

I auditioned for a few roles on [the show]. Was called back for one that I was totally wrong for… and then when I got this one, I said thank you, I’m so psyched to be a part of it. I actually even think when he cast me, we talked about it… He knew all of this ahead of time. They didn’t let me know, but he did say like, it’s always good for the McLuskys to have an enemy. He goes, you don’t die. So end of last season, Mike says you’re going to transfer to Anchor Bay—I was like okay, maybe, but who knows?

And then this year, before this season, I got another gig. It was in Toronto, and both shows worked it out. So I was like, they want me around for the whole season; I wonder what they’re going to do. I figured it was going to be more geared toward me menacing Kyle. And then it ended up being that it was really to support Cindy’s storyline.

Hugh knew about this for a while, because he was so excited to tell me, but he didn’t tell me for a little while. At one point he’s like dude, I’m sending it to you. You’ve got to see it. And I’m like, I haven’t read it yet. They don’t send [the scripts] ahead of time. He’s like, let me text it to you. My son was visiting set, and they were doing that big fight scene with the Norseman, and Hugh comes over to say, did you fucking read it yet? And I’m like no, I want to sit and have an experience with it. He’s like, just fucking read it. So I pulled out my phone, and I went to my [scenes] and I was like, holy shit.

Are there any scenes you look back on in retrospect, knowing what the final outcome for Breen was?

What’s interesting is before Hugh told me that, there was a little scene where we’re in the locker room, and I’m barely in this. It’s really a scene where Torres is coming in to Kevin, who’s kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. The opening of the scene is me with my locker—and Christoph Schrewe, who’s directing us, is like this is the beginning of Breen’s highway to hell. But at that point, I didn’t know what the end point was. I just knew something big was happening. And I’m okay not knowing, but I know that okay, I’m unraveling in a way that’s leading to something. And then shortly after that was when Hugh was like look, this is what it is.

Everybody’s coming to an end in Kingstown. I feel like everybody is going out. And I feel like what Hugh gave me—and he said this to me. He’s like you know I like you, when I’m giving you this kind of death scene to go out. And I was like if I’m going to go out, this is the way I want it to be as an actor. That episode was such an incredible experience to shoot. It was several days of shooting that sequence alone.

What was that filming experience like? Because that is such an intense sequence—one of the most intense of the whole series—and you’re having to go there for an extended period of time.

This is kind of what you live for as an actor, is for them to give you the ball. So to be honest with you, that episode was a challenge, to stay at that intensity level for that many hours, for several days in a row. But I made a little playlist… and I can’t tell you how many times I listen to Rage Against the Machine, “Killing in the Name,” just to get hyped up.

But I find it harder to be on a set when you don’t have much to do. I don’t like that. I love when I’ve got a ton to do. And luckily, throughout the entire season, since I was doing the other show in Toronto at the same time, I had stuff there and I had stuff here. But on Kingstown, it’s such an ensemble piece… and it’s a great set. The people are really cool. There’s actually, ironically, a lot of fun behind the scenes. It’s not such a dark set, even though the show is so dark. So it was great. Pittsburgh was cool,

That was when I was really given the ball, in that last episode. So to me, yes, it’s a challenge, but that’s why I do this. That’s why I’m an actor, to have those kinds of opportunities to really go for it.

You had two very different storylines in each season with two different scene partners, Nishi Munshi as Tracy McLusky and then Laura Benanti as Cindy Stephens. What did working with each of them add to your performance?

It’s ironic that I got coupled with two of the moral compasses on the show. There’s very few people [on Kingstown] that are moral compasses, and I would say Tracy and Cindy are. Breen is just horrific, and he’s paired with these really wonderful women, and just as humans, they were cool.

Last year with Nishi, we had the the scene in the parking lot where we’re walking, and then I get aggressive and throw her against the car. And we’d really kind of just met. We had worked a little bit, but we had only a couple of scenes only, and then we had that. So I just said before, you tell me what’s good, physically. How are you comfortable? Which is how I always work. That’s how I was trained, which is between action and cut, you want to be fearless. You want to be not really thinking and planning. But in order to do that, you have to set the parameters prior to action.

That particular scene with with Nishi was like that—where you let me know anything that you need from me, so that you’re feeling safe in the scene. When you watch the scene, it looks really out of nowhere and violent and menacing, and the only reason you could do that is trusting your scene partner.

Laura was amazing this year. Getting to work with her and John Cenatiempo, who played Clyde, great guy. He’s done stunts and acting, and he’s fought every major star you know, in Hollywood. Everybody that they get on that set is not only talented, but super-cool. They’ve just assembled great humans, so it’s fun to go to work.

Did your perception of Breen as a character change at any point? Because that’s one thing Mayor of Kingstown does brilliantly, is the audience feels for this character that they’ve understandably hated before.

With Breen, right from the audition, I knew what kind of guy this was. There were two scenes for the audition. The first one was the the scene where I meet Tracy in the parking lot, and I’m very charming and light, and you’re like oh, this guy’s from somewhere else, and he’s helpful, and there’s a there’s a friendliness to him. And then the next scene was that scene where I’m pushing her against the car and threatening her, and then walking away like nothing happened. He’s really a bit of a sociopath, because he’s able to change on a dime and threaten people, everything is self-serving, and yet he’s maintaining this friendly, charming face on the outside.

So I knew what kind of a guy he was, but then my job is to go, how does the guy get like this? Why is he like this?… They’re very vague about the backstory, but to me, the scene that actually revealed a lot about his character—and maybe kind of made you go oh God, this guy is sad. He’s scary, yes, but he’s also sad—was that [Season 4, Episode 6] scene in the car in the parking lot.

The way they shot it, you see this empty parking lot and this lone car, and this guy alone. This is the one woman who’s actually been kind to him, and he’s doing this. And then you’re like, where does this guy go when he leaves the prison? My imagination is, his wife left him. His kids hate him. He’s on his own. He’s got the only job that he can get, kind of; he got transferred from somewhere else. But I thought of it as he was found out wherever he was, and so they moved him, because they just want a body to work in the system. They look the other way, and here he is doing his thing again. This is a guy that probably could have been stopped way before, but they were like we can just shove him in this place and just not think about him. Let him be their problem.

This is a guy who is very much on his own, very much complete shame and self-hatred. They did a great job in that scene in the lunch room, where I come in and Cindy, she’s like the only one that’s kind of kind to me, you know. When you see in that rampage at the end, I turn the rifle on her and shoot and it hits the glass, she’s not the problem. I look at it as kind of like a suicide, but let’s take everybody out with us. I don’t think that there were thoughts that I was going to get out of there. I think it’s like, that’s it. Fuck this. Fuck it all. And I’m just going to take everybody out with me.

It’s uncommon for a character to come back over two seasons the way that Breen did in Mayor of Kingstown. Are there any other roles you’ve played that you’d want to revisit?

I got my dream in a certain way. I did this show Huge in France; it was a comedy for Netflix, and I played an actor who thinks he’s a Method actor but he really doesn’t have much of a career. And it was really funny. It was emotional. It was such a great show… That was one that I was like this would have been so great, to bring this guy [back] or give him his own show. And then just this summer, I worked with those same showrunners on this other show coming out called Free Bert. It’s a different character, but it’s the same people. So I feel like, in a weird way, that one, I’m getting slightly to extend it.

There’s always characters that I would want longer. It’s generally just the nature of the business that all of these jobs end. But like City on a Hill… In the third season, we wrapped the season thinking we had another one coming. They gave me so much great stuff to do in the third season, and I just thought it was going to keep rolling. And then like two months later, we found out the show was gone. It’s always the case if I like the character and I like the people I’m working with.

But I’ve been lucky. I feel like the last almost ten years, I’ve worked on really cool stuff with really cool people and interesting characters that are all not just straight down the middle. I feel lucky, but I always mourn them when they’re gone.

Mayor of Kingstown in particular is such an intense show, and your arc ended in an even more intense way. How were you able to move on from Breen? Did it take a minute?

I got the comedy in the summer, and it was such a release, because I’m basically getting paid to go cry laughing every day with Bert Kreischer and the rest of the cast. And it was a very nice change of pace, you know, to be there just laughing. I can’t take credit for it. I just got lucky that a comedy came after these really dark roles.

Right after the comedy, I made my own independent film in Oklahoma that my friend came in and co-wrote with me, and he directed and I played the lead. So I’m super-excited about that… And I’ve been developing a TV show with my college friend who was a former Navy SEAL trauma surgeon, and another friend who’s a writer. Hugh is an inspiration, because I knew him before [Kingstown] came out, and seeing him do it, I’m just so psyched for him, to see how incredibly they’ve pulled it off.

You also have a role in Crime 101 coming up. What can you say about that, and is there any goal or idea you’ve set for yourself next? Where would you like to go from here?

It’s a huge cast, great script, and I had two scenes in it, really—but they were with Mark Ruffalo, and I love him. I’m kind of the alpha in the scene, so that was a blast. And the director [Bart Layton] was awesome. I had such a good time, and it’s a really good movie.

In 2017, I decided to start my own podcast. I was just like, I want to be able to talk to people that I find interesting… and it was the best thing I ever did. People thought it was crazy when I started it. They’re like, you’re going to give yourself so much more work to do this. And I was like, I feel like I have more to bring to the table than just being an actor for hire. And that decision did so many things for me. It allowed me to sit down with people—not just actors, it was entrepreneurs and crash victims and pro athletes and then writers, actors, directors as well. It gave me an opportunity to just sit with really interesting people and pick their brain on like, how did you get to where you are? And how did you get through the hard times?

I love people, and I love stories of people striving for something. I think [the podcast] gave me a confidence; it almost took my acting and made it less precious. And I think having a family has done the same thing… Being a parent, having a podcast, all of it just kind of puts everything in perspective with acting, where I’ve taken my hand off the wheel a little bit. Not gripping it so tightly.

I was producing a [podcast] every week, and that led to a book deal; it just happened. I didn’t plan it. One of my guests saw something I wrote, and all of a sudden I’m writing a book. It just gave me possibility… I think I shifted my mindset when I did the podcast, where all of a sudden I’m like, I can build my own little sandbox and invite people to play in it. I don’t have to wait. And that’s led to the movie now, developing this TV show. It’s been just kind of spiritually better. I love storytelling and this art form, but I don’t love waiting to be told I can do it.

Mayor of Kingstown streams Sundays on Paramount+. You can also follow Matthew on YouTube and Instagram. Photo Credit: Lead image by Corey Nickols, in-text image courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.