![\"Lennie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_274193279-50b8.jpg\")
\n\t\tLennie James has received glowing praise from Mayor of Kingstown fans over his performance as Frank Moses (Picture: Dennis P. Mong Jr.\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tLennie James has received glowing praise from Mayor of Kingstown fans over his performance as Frank Moses (Picture: Dennis P. Mong Jr.\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n
Key Points<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tsummary__ai-icon<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tCreated with AI assistance. Quality assured by Metro editors.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Lennie James<\/a> is no stranger to playing characters whose morals are tested.<\/p>\n The actor kicked off the first series of Line of Duty<\/a> as antagonist DCI Tony Gates<\/a>, before becoming a key part of The Walking Dead<\/a> universe as Rick Grimes\u2019 ally Morgan Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 60-year-old has been in the acting business for over three decades, but his latest role \u2013 starring as gangster Frank Moses in the fourth season of Jeremy Renner<\/a>\u2019s thriller Mayor of Kingstown<\/a> \u2013 could be one of his most impactful yet.<\/p>\n Frank, who beheads four people with a freight train in his first scene, has already been compared to Breaking Bad villain Gus Fring, who many people regard as one of the best TV villains of all time.<\/p>\n \u2018One of the things I really like about Frank Moses is how difficult he is to gauge,\u2019 the Bafta winner tells Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u2018His danger is in what you can\u2019t see, where you can\u2019t hear what he\u2019s saying, or can\u2019t see what he\u2019s doing. I like him a lot. Which seems like an odd thing to say, considering what he gets up to.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\t Comparing Frank to Gus, one fan called @batherine_ wrote on X: \u2018Frank Moses is the Gus Fring of #MayorOfKingstown.\u2019<\/p>\n Another named @rodriQuez added: \u2018Mayor of Kingstown introduced a new character in Season 4, an old-school mob boss from Detroit, Frank Moses. Anyone else getting an evil Gus Fring Los Pollos Hermanos vibe?\u2019<\/p>\n Lennie insists that actors \u2018have to be able to understand\u2019 the characters they play, even if you don\u2019t have to \u2018like\u2019 them.<\/p>\n \u2018I think it\u2019s an assumption most people would make that you have to like the characters you\u2019re playing in order to make the choices they\u2019re making believable, but you don\u2019t necessarily,\u2019 he outlines.<\/p>\n \u2018I have to be able to justify their actions and choices, even if they\u2019re actions or choices I wouldn\u2019t do or make. You can think your character is an idiot, but still be committed to their idiocy.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t Throughout his career, Lennie has gravitated towards playing morally ambiguous individuals. He starred as Robert Jenkins in the US TV drama Jericho, who\u2019s shrouded in mystery from the very start.<\/p>\n In 2018, he released his critically acclaimed drama Save Me, in which he starred as Nelly, a man who\u2019s falsely accused of abducting his own 13-year-old daughter, and embarks on a harrowing mission to find her.<\/p>\n So why is it that Lennie is drawn to characters who endure arduous, emotional challenges?<\/p>\n \u2018They interest me, because if you\u2019re playing those characters, it\u2019s as important what you\u2019re not saying as what you are saying. So you have to be fully engaged,\u2019 he stated.<\/p>\n \u2018I get bored very easily, so I like characters that engage me. If you\u2019re exploring the human condition, which to a certain extent it is my job to do, you want the characters who are conflicted and throw up as many questions as they do answers. But mostly it\u2019s not being bored.\u2019<\/p>\n There is certainly no boredom where Lennie\u2019s performances are concerned. Earlier this year, his portrayal of Barrington Jedidiah Walker in BBC drama Mr Loverman earned him a Bafta for best actor. <\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \u2018I came from a household where the notion of being an actor and making a living out of it just wasn\u2019t one of the options presented as a way of lifting yourself up,\u2019 he shares.<\/p>\n \u2018If I was coming through now from where I came from, I think it would have been harder for me. It feels that opportunities are lessening. Youth theatres are lessening, focus on drama schools have become degree courses and, by definition, the net they cast is smaller.\u2019<\/p>\n Lennie attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as a youngster, an experience that he says was \u2018really important\u2019 to him.<\/p>\n \u2018It opened my eyes to the things I didn\u2019t know: Strindberg, Shakespeare and Brecht. It\u2019s the broadening of understanding that universities, drama schools and youth theatres provide,\u2019 he recollects.<\/p>\n \u2018If you take those away, we lose voices, perspective, and the possibility of someone doing something different based on where they\u2019re from and what they\u2019ve experienced. I think it will be a crying shame if that area of possibility is made harder to bloom.\u2019<\/p>\n While Lennie\u2019s Mayor of Kingstown character Frank might strike fear into the hearts of audiences, a TV series that\u2019s brought him joy as of late is Aimee Lou Wood\u2019s Film Club on the BBC.<\/p>\n \u2018I love it, its heart is so in the right place. She\u2019s done a fantastic job with it, and every time I finish an episode I have a smile on my face. At the moment, I quite like television that does that.\u2019<\/p>\n Mayor of Kingstown streams new episodes every Monday on Paramount+.<\/strong><\/p>\n Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow![\"Giancarlo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_218049527-5e92.jpg\")
\n\t\tGiancarlo Esposito\u2019s Gus Fring is regarded as one of the best TV villains ever \u2013\u00a0and according to some TV fans, Frank Moses gives him a run for his money (Picture: Michele K.Short\/AMC\/Sony Pictures)<\/p>\n![\"Television](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_67098342-e88a.jpg\")
\n\t\tLennie starred in the first series of Line of Duty in 2012 (Picture: BBC\/World Productions\/Ed Miller)<\/p>\n![\"Editorial](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_274333203-3a81.jpg\")
\n\t\tHe revealed that many people in the UK still recognise him for his role as Sol in Guy Ritchie\u2019s 2000 film Snatch (Picture: Moviestore\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_250866931-995c.jpg\")
\n\t\tLennie delivered a heartfelt, impromptu speech when he received his Bafta TV Award this year (Picture: Jeff Spicer\/BAFTA\/Getty Images for Bafta)<\/p>\n![\"Lennie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_159008533-193f.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Walking Dead actor reprised his role as Morgan Jones in the spin-off series Fear the Walking Dead (Picture: Lauren \u201cLo\u201d Smith\/AMC)<\/p>\n
\nMORE: \u2018The best sci-fi show you\u2019ve never heard of\u2019 is now on Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Netflix drops all 8 episode of thriller hailed \u2018one of the best series in a long time\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: \u2018Most women have an uncomfortable work story \u2013 my BBC thriller brings that to life\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n