Who Plays Bunny in ‘Mayor of Kingstown’? Meet Tobi Bamtefa

Deverin “Bunny” Washington (Tobi Bamtefa) is one of the most likable characters in Mayor of Kingstown, thanks to his addictive sense of humor and outgoing personality. Despite being one of the show’s “bad guys,” most fans want Bunny to survive Kingstown because he is one of the few people that allow Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) to thrive as “The Mayor.” Bunny’s popularity has turned him into one of the most likable bad guys on TV, although some fans don’t know much about Tobi Bamtefa, who portrays the character.

Tobi Bamtefa is a British Nigerian entertainer who became popular after playing the role of Vince in Lucky Man in 2016. He has also starred in other big roles on TV, including portraying Sir Danek in The Witcher and Godswill inTinstar. He joined the Mayor of Kingstown cast in the first season and nailed the role, with the creators allowing him to ad-lib on set, which helps his character look more natural.

Bunny has grown in the two seasons of Mayor of Kingstown from a scared drug dealer selling drugs in a cooler on his lawn to one of the forces that will decide the fate of Kingstown. Tobi Bamtefa’s portrayal of the character has received lots of positive reviews, especially how he expresses Bunny’s sense of humor, hiding the bad guy in character. So, how much does Tobi enjoy playing Bunny, and what does the future hold for the leader of the Crips?

Who plays Bunny in Mayor of Kingstown?

Deverin “Bunny” Washington is portrayed by the talented British Nigerian actor Tobi Bamtefa who gained popularity with his role as Vince in the crime drama Lucky Man in 2016.

The actor, whose parents are also film creators, was born in Nigeria and moved to Britain at the age of 10. He has a law degree, but his ambition was always to be an actor. His acting career took shape when he got the role of Godswill in Tinstar.

Tobi also played the role of Sir Danek in The Witcher, although the role also had little screen time and little attention in terms of reviews. The call-up to play Bunny in Mayor Of Kingstown was a life-saving for him since he was financially at his lowest moment, living off food stamps and facing eviction.

Bunny’s popularity has put Bamtefa’s talent in the limelight, with more credit going to Taylor Sheridan, who creates the Mayor of Kingstown for giving him more freedom to add his own ideas on set during production.

Hugh Dillon, the show’s cocreator who also stars as Ian, described Tobi as a force of nature that nailed the role of Bunny beyond his imagination of the character in the script.

Tobi described his first days on set as intense, saying he lost two pounds in just one day of rehearsing for the role of Bunny. His ability to nail the American accent with all the slang has also been praised because it is his first time playing such a role.

The most acclaimed achievement of Tobi Bamtefa in the show is his ability to humanize Bunny. He brings out the different faces of Bunny that make it possible for fans to love him while still dreading the hardened, violent criminal underneath.

What happened to Bunny in Mayor of Kingstown?

Bunny is the leader of the Crips, a street and prison gang made up mostly of black members whose arch-rivals are a white supremacist gang called the Aryan Brothers (ABs).

The crips have the biggest numbers in the prisons and the streets, although ABs have the help of law enforcement, and most of the COs in the prisons are either members or sympathizers.

Therefore, Bunny has to protect his family and gang against the inequality and oppression they face both inside the prison and in the streets of Kingstown.

He is close friends with Mike McLusky, the power broker between different gangs and law enforcement in the city. The two have lots of respect for each other despite Mike having been an AB member in the past while he was in prison.

Bunny started quietly in the show, only selling drugs on his lawn while pulling strings to keep his family and gang members safe with Mike’s help.

He lost control after P Dog, the leader of his gang in prison, was killed during deadly riots towards the end of the first season, forcing him to hide on the rooftop of a building.

To restore peace in Kingstown, Mike was forced to get the leaders of the main gangs in Kingstown sent to prison after a deal with the DA, so that they would be released after reestablishing leadership structures for their gangs in prisons and restoring peace in the streets.

Despite Bunny delivering on his side of the deal, the DA went back on his word, forcing Bunny and Mike to explore extreme measures to get him released from prison, which saw Bunny order the killing of all the leaders of the other gangs that would to bring peace faster.

Bunny finally secured his release but found himself in the line of fire as the other gangs, whose leaders were killed or not released from prison, waged war on the Crips. The second season ends with Bunny having robbed a gun store and threatening to protect his gang and family at all costs, warning Mike to stay out of his way when the war comes.

Bunny, therefore, has a big role to play in the future of Kingstown. However, that will only happen if he agrees to work with Mike and approach the war with the other gangs sensibly rather than starting an all-out war with the gangs and the police because it would turn him into a villain.

Bunny’s friendship with Mike Mclusky explained

Despite being the leader of a deadly gang, Bunny is a sensible leader who cares more about peace than the rest of his gang and only resorts to violence when it is his only means to survival.

His gang and family are mostly black, but he has known Mike for many years and treats him like family, something many people around him, including his cousin, don’t understand.

Bunny is the only friend Mike has, and the two meet and have friendly chats over beer,s discussing their dreams of Kingstown.

Bunny hates the mess in Kingstown just as much as Mike, but he is also trapped there because of his attachment to the town where he grew up and his family, which would be otherwise lost without his help.

The two characters connect on what Tobi Bamtefa described as a shared understanding of the weight of responsibility that they both carry. They see the bigger picture of Kingstown that those in their circles can’t see, and they like and respect each other for that.

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