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114-412: The Wire is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO . The series premiered on June 2, 2002, and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising 60 episodes over five seasons. The idea for the show started out as a police drama loosely based on the experiences of Simon's writing partner Ed Burns ,

228-441: A Primetime Emmy Award winner who has worked on every season of The Sopranos . The directing has been praised for its uncomplicated and subtle style. Following the death of Colesberry, director Joe Chappelle joined the production staff as a co-executive producer and continued to regularly direct episodes. Each episode begins with a cold open that seldom contains a dramatic juncture. The screen then fades or cuts to black while

342-527: A Baltimore drug lord arrested in the 1980s by an investigation that Burns had been part of, had a recurring role as a deacon beginning in the third season. Jay Landsman , a longtime police officer who inspired the character of the same name , played Lieutenant Dennis Mello . Baltimore police commander Gary D'Addario served as the series' technical advisor for the first two seasons and had a recurring role as prosecutor Gary DiPasquale . Simon shadowed D'Addario's shift when researching his book Homicide: A Year on

456-561: A change in American crime fiction. There was a shift into hard-boiled novels and their depictions of realism. Dashiell Hammett and his work, including Red Harvest (1929), offered a more realistic social perspective to crime fiction, referencing events such as the Great Depression . James M. Cain contributed The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This novel includes a married woman trying to murder her own husband with

570-419: A crime. Readers speak of crime fiction as a mode of escapism to cope with other aspects of their lives. Crime fiction provides distraction from readers' personal lives through a strong narrative at a comfortable distance. Forensic crime novels have been referred to as "distraction therapy", proposing that crime fiction can improve mental health and be considered as a form of treatment to prevent depression. In

684-497: A criminal, with the story unfolding in normal chronology and the criminal already being known to the audience. The latter involves a climax where titular detective protagonist Ali Khwaja presents evidence from expert witnesses in a court. " The Hunchback's Tale " is another early courtroom drama , presented as a suspenseful comedy. The earliest known modern crime fiction is E. T. A. Hoffmann 's 1819 novella "Mademoiselle de Scudéri". Also, Thomas Skinner Surr 's anonymous Richmond

798-429: A desire to harm others; many are trapped in their existence and all have human qualities. Even so, The Wire does not minimize or gloss over the horrific effects of their actions. The show is realistic in depicting the processes of both police work and criminal activity. There have even been reports of real-life criminals watching the show to learn how to counter police investigation techniques. The fifth season portrayed

912-604: A forerunner of Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes , appeared in works such as " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " (1841), " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " (1842), and " The Purloined Letter " (1844). With his Dupin stories, Poe provided the framework for the classic detective story. The detective's unnamed companion is the narrator of the stories and a prototype for the character of Dr. Watson in later Sherlock Holmes stories. Wilkie Collins ' epistolary novel The Woman in White

1026-501: A former homicide detective and public school teacher. Set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland , The Wire introduces a different institution of the city and its relationship to law enforcement in each season while retaining characters and advancing storylines from previous seasons. The five subjects are, in chronological order; the illegal drug trade , the port system, the city government and bureaucracy, education and schools, and

1140-401: A humanistic approach toward its characters. A central theme developed throughout the show is the struggle between individual desires and subordination to the group's goals. Central to the structure and plot of the show is the use of electronic surveillance and wiretap technologies by the police—hence the title The Wire. Salon described the title as a metaphor for the viewer's experience:

1254-433: A more satisfying payoff. He uses the metaphor of a visual novel in several interviews, describing each episode as a chapter, and has also commented that this allows a fuller exploration of the show's themes in time not spent on plot development. Simon described the second season as "a meditation on the death of work and the betrayal of the American working class ... it is a deliberate argument that unencumbered capitalism

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1368-767: A much-loved movie entitled The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Ira Levin 's (born 1929) science-fiction thriller The Boys from Brazil (1976), which was filmed in 1978 . Older novels can often be retrieved from the ever-growing Project Gutenberg database. Lance Reddick Lance Solomon Reddick (June 7, 1962 – March 17, 2023) was an American actor. He portrayed Cedric Daniels in The Wire (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in Fringe (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in Bosch (2014–2020). In film, he played Charon in

1482-470: A newly released convict uncertain of his future. In the fourth season , four young actors joined the cast: Jermaine Crawford as Duquan "Dukie" Weems ; Maestro Harrell as Randy Wagstaff ; Julito McCullum as Namond Brice ; and Tristan Wilds as Michael Lee . The characters are friends from a west Baltimore middle school. Another newcomer was Norman Wilson ( Reg E. Cathey ), Carcetti's deputy campaign manager. The fifth season saw several actors join

1596-466: A producer for the third season. Pelecanos has commented that he was attracted to the project because of the opportunity to work with Simon. Staff writer Rafael Alvarez penned several episodes' scripts, as well as the series guidebook The Wire: Truth Be Told. Alvarez is a colleague of Simon's from The Baltimore Sun and a Baltimore native with working experience in the port area. Another city native and independent filmmaker, Joy Lusco , also wrote for

1710-442: A series in 1999 entitled "Pan Classic Crime", which includes a handful of novels by Eric Ambler , but also American Hillary Waugh 's Last Seen Wearing ... . In 2000, Edinburgh -based Canongate Books started a series called "Canongate Crime Classics" —both whodunnits and roman noir about amnesia and insanity —and other novels. However, books brought out by smaller publishers such as Canongate Books are usually not stocked by

1824-597: A single day. In January 2024, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films announced that it had established the Lance Reddick Legacy Award for the Saturn Awards ceremony in honor of Reddick's contributions to the film industry. For the recipient, the award "symbolizes and celebrates not only a performer's talent, but their character; someone who's a true goodwill ambassador in

1938-431: A song is played before the closing scene in a montage showing the lives of the protagonists in the aftermath of the narrative. The first season montage is played over "Step by Step" by Jesse Winchester , the second "I Feel Alright" by Steve Earle, the third "Fast Train" written by Van Morrison and performed by Solomon Burke , the fourth "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" written by Dr. John and performed by Paul Weller and

2052-465: A steamy sex scene between Sharon Stone and William Baldwin straight from the 1993 movie , and again, Bret Easton Ellis 's American Psycho (1991). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC , though, have launched what they call "Bloomsbury Film Classics"—a series of original novels on which feature films were based. This series includes, for example, Ethel Lina White 's novel The Wheel Spins (1936), which Alfred Hitchcock —before he went to Hollywood—turned into

2166-412: A still from the movie on the front cover and the film credits on the back cover of the book—yet another marketing strategy aimed at those cinemagoers who may want to do both: first read the book and then watch the film (or vice versa). Recent examples include Patricia Highsmith 's The Talented Mr. Ripley (originally published in 1955), Ira Levin 's Sliver (1991), with the cover photograph depicting

2280-513: A story forward in order to unravel mysteries. Likewise, the feature of detectives was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe and Conan Doyle . Hard-boiled detective stories attracted a decent amount of attention to the genre in America and France as well. Within crime fiction, it can also be common to use dark themes from real life, such as slavery , organized crime , and more. Aside from general themes, referencing instances of crime in real life

2394-645: A story of this genre is the medieval Arabic tale of " The Three Apples ", one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the Arabian Nights . In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest along the Tigris River, and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph , Harun al-Rashid , who then has the chest broken open, only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier , Ja'far ibn Yahya , to solve

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2508-523: A summer program teaching music theory and composition at the Walden School . Reddick studied classical music composition at University of Rochester 's Eastman School of Music , earning a Bachelor of Music degree. He moved to Boston , Massachusetts , in the 1980s. Reddick attended the Yale School of Drama in the early 1990s, receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1994. Reddick

2622-581: A teacher in an inner-city school. The two of them spent a year researching the drug culture and poverty in Baltimore for their book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood . Their combined experiences were used in many storylines of The Wire . Central to the show's aim for realism was the creation of truthful characters. Simon has stated that most of them are composites of real-life Baltimore figures. For instance, Donnie Andrews served as

2736-410: A true range of humanity on screen. Many of the cast are black, consistent with the demographics of Baltimore. Wendell Pierce , who plays Detective Bunk Moreland , was the first actor to be cast. Dominic West , who won the ostensible lead role of Detective Jimmy McNulty , sent in a tape he recorded the night before the audition's deadline of his playing out a scene by himself. Lance Reddick received

2850-431: A working newsroom at The Baltimore Sun and was described by Brian Lowry of Variety magazine in 2007 as the most realistic portrayal of the media in film and television. In a December 2006 Washington Post article, local black students said that the show had "hit a nerve" with the black community and that they themselves knew real-life counterparts of many of the characters. The article expressed great sadness at

2964-535: Is Agatha Christie , whose texts, originally published between 1920 and her death in 1976, are available in UK and US editions in all English-speaking nations. Christie's works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple , have given her the title the Queen of Crime, and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Her most famous novels include Murder on

3078-491: Is Florida -based author Carl Hiaasen , who has been publishing books since 1981, all of which are readily available. From time to time, publishing houses decide, for commercial purposes, to revive long-forgotten authors, and reprint one or two of their more commercially successful novels. Apart from Penguin Books , which for this purpose have resorted to their old green cover and dug out some of their vintage authors. Pan started

3192-439: Is a cop, a longshoreman , a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed." The Wire is lauded for its literary themes and its uncommonly accurate exploration of society, politics and urban life . Despite this, the series received only average ratings and never won any major television awards during its original run, but it

3306-514: Is also common in several works of crime fiction. These reflections of reality can be expressed in many ways. For instance, crime fiction in Spain expressed grievances with authority, which was opposite to the instances in Japan that credited the government's functionality. Espionage is another prominent inclusion in many works of crime fiction. It includes the use of political intrigue, morality, and

3420-416: Is credited by the rest of the creative team as having a large creative role as a producer, and Simon credits him for achieving the show's realistic visual feel. He also had a small recurring role as Detective Ray Cole . Colesberry's wife Karen L. Thorson joined him on the production staff. A third producer on The Corner , Nina Kostroff Noble also stayed with the production staff for The Wire rounding out

3534-529: Is from 1827 ; another early full-length short story in the genre is The Rector of Veilbye by Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher , published in 1829. A further example of crime detection can be found in Letitia Elizabeth Landon 's story The Knife , published in 1832, although here the truth remains in doubt at the end. Better known are the earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe . His brilliant and eccentric detective C. Auguste Dupin ,

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3648-400: Is making an argument about what institutions—bureaucracies, criminal enterprises, the cultures of addiction, raw capitalism even—do to individuals. It is not designed purely as an entertainment. It is, I'm afraid, a somewhat angry show. The major characters of the first season were divided between those on the side of the law and those involved in drug-related crime . The investigating detail

3762-454: Is not a substitute for social policy; that on its own, without a social compact, raw capitalism is destined to serve the few at the expense of the many." He added that season 3 "reflects on the nature of reform and reformers, and whether there is any possibility that political processes, long calcified, can mitigate against the forces currently arrayed against individuals." The third season is also an allegory that draws explicit parallels between

3876-479: Is now widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time. Simon has stated that he originally set out to create a police drama loosely based on the experiences of his writing partner Ed Burns , a former homicide detective and public school teacher who had worked with Simon on projects including The Corner (2000). Burns, when working on protracted investigations of violent drug dealers using surveillance technology, had often been frustrated by

3990-573: Is rarely breached, notably for the end-of-season montages and occasionally with a brief overlap of the closing theme and the final shot. The opening theme is " Way Down in the Hole ," a gospel -and- blues -inspired song, written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years . Each season uses a different recording and a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama , Waits, The Neville Brothers , DoMaJe and Steve Earle . The season four version of "Way Down in

4104-751: The John Wick franchise (2014–2025) and General Caulfield in White House Down (2013). He also portrayed Detective Johnny Basil in the fourth season of Oz , Matthew Abaddon in Lost (2004–2010), Albert Wesker and his clones in the Netflix series Resident Evil (2022), and Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2024), the latter of which was released posthumously. He provided

4218-599: The Father Brown short stories, and Henry Christopher Bailey . The Golden Age also had roots in the US. As used by S. S. Van Dine , fictional character Philo Vance also took advantage of an inflated personality and a high-class background in a plethora of novels. In 1929, Father Ronald Knox wrote the ‘Detective Story Decalogue,’ mentioning some conditions of the era. Early foreshadowing and functioning roles for characters were discussed, as well as other items. Ellery Queen

4332-561: The Iraq War and drug prohibition , which in Simon's view has failed in its aims and has become a war against America's underclass. This is portrayed by Major Colvin, imparting to Carver his view that policing has been allowed to become a war and thus will never succeed in its aims. Writer Ed Burns , who worked as a public school teacher after retiring from the Baltimore police force shortly before going to work with Simon, has called education

4446-606: The YouTube web series DR0NE , where he was also credited as a co-producer. In 2014, Reddick appeared as Charon in the action-thriller film John Wick , a role he reprised in its three sequels. In July 2021, it was confirmed that Reddick would reprise his role in John Wick: Chapter 4 . He voiced the character Commander Zavala in the 2014, and 2017 video games Destiny and Destiny 2 , respectively. Also in 2014, he started portraying Chief Irvin Irving in

4560-425: The series finale , which started with a quote from H. L. Mencken that is shown on a wall at The Baltimore Sun in one scene, neither quote being spoken by a character. Progressive story arcs often unfold in different locations at the same time. Episodes rarely end with a cliffhanger , and close with a fade or cut to black with the closing music fading in. When broadcast on HBO and on some international networks,

4674-648: The whodunit ), courtroom drama , hard-boiled fiction, and legal thrillers . Proto-science and crime fictions have been composed across history, and in this category can be placed texts as varied as the Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia , the Mahabharata from ancient India , the Book of Tobit , Urashima Tarō from ancient Japan , the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), and more. One example of

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4788-652: The "Grand Master" of 20th-century Chinese detective fiction, translated Sherlock Holmes into classical and vernacular Chinese. In the late 1910s, Cheng began writing his own detective fiction series, Sherlock in Shanghai , mimicking Conan Doyle's style, but relating better to a Chinese audience. During the Mao era , crime fiction was suppressed and mainly Soviet-styled and anticapitalist. In the post-Mao era, crime fiction in China focused on corruption and harsh living conditions during

4902-555: The 19th century was crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres. Literary 'variety' magazines, such as Strand , McClure's , and Harper's , quickly became central to the overall structure and function of popular fiction in society, providing a mass-produced medium that offered cheap, illustrated publications that were essentially disposable. Like the works of many other important fiction writers of his day—e.g. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens —Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial form in

5016-504: The Amazon Prime series Bosch . Comparing his three large roles as police commanders, Reddick said that Daniels, his character from The Wire , is "a cop at heart", while Broyles, his Fringe character, is "a soldier", and Irving "is the quintessential politician". Reddick was a spokesman in television commercials for Cree LED Bulbs . In 2016, Reddick was cast in the post-apocalyptic horror film The Domestics . The film

5130-551: The Barksdale family. The season follows the police investigation of the latter over its 13 episodes. The investigation is triggered when, following the acquittal of D'Angelo Barksdale for murder after a key witness changes her story, Detective Jimmy McNulty meets privately with Judge Daniel Phelan . McNulty tells Phelan that the witness has probably been intimidated by members of a drug trafficking empire run by D'Angelo's uncle, Avon Barksdale , having recognized several faces at

5244-556: The Barksdale organization since the first episode; he was born to their trade and showed a fierce aptitude for it. Omar had a vendetta against the Barksdale organization and gave them all of his lethal attention. New additions in the third season included Tommy Carcetti ( Aidan Gillen ), an ambitious city councilman; Mayor Clarence Royce ( Glynn Turman ), the incumbent whom Carcetti planned to unseat; Marlo Stanfield ( Jamie Hector ), leader of an upstart gang seeking to challenge Avon's dominance; and Dennis "Cutty" Wise ( Chad Coleman ),

5358-424: The Hole" was arranged and recorded for the show and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse. Earle, who performed the fifth season version, is also a member of the cast, playing the recovering drug addict Walon . The closing theme is "The Fall," composed by Blake Leyh , who is also the music supervisor of the show. During season finales,

5472-749: The Killing Streets and both D'Addario and Landsman are subjects of the book. More than a dozen cast members previously appeared on HBO's first hour-long drama Oz . J. D. Williams , Seth Gilliam , Lance Reddick , and Reg E. Cathey were featured in very prominent roles on Oz , while a number of other notable stars of The Wire , including Wood Harris , Frankie Faison , John Doman , Clarke Peters , Domenick Lombardozzi , Michael Hyatt , Michael Potts , and Method Man , appeared in at least one episode of Oz . Cast members Erik Dellums , Peter Gerety , Clark Johnson , Clayton LeBouef , Toni Lewis and Callie Thorne also appeared on Homicide: Life on

5586-575: The Mao era (such as the Cultural Revolution ). The Golden Age, which spanned from the 1920s to 1954, was a period of time featuring the creation of renowned works by several authors. Many of these authors were British. Agatha Christie wrote The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and The Murder at the Vicarage (1930). These novels commonly prioritized the allure of exploring mysteries in

5700-524: The Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and the world's best-selling mystery And Then There Were None (1939). Other less successful, contemporary authors who are still writing have seen reprints of their earlier works, due to current overwhelming popularity of crime fiction texts among audiences. One example is Val McDermid , whose first book appeared as far back as 1987; another

5814-455: The Street , the earlier and award-winning network television series also based on Simon's book; Lewis appeared on Oz as well. A number of cast members, as well as crew members, also appeared in the preceding HBO miniseries The Corner including Clarke Peters , Reg E. Cathey , Lance Reddick , Corey Parker Robinson , Robert F. Chew , Delaney Williams , and Benay Berger. Alongside Simon,

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5928-688: The Western district where the Barksdale organization operated, and nearing retirement, he came up with a radical new method of dealing with the drug problem. Proposition Joe, the East Side's cautious drug kingpin, became more cooperative with the Barksdale Organization . Sydnor, a rising young star in the Police Department in season 1, returned to the cast as part of the major crimes unit. Bodie had been seen gradually rising in

6042-576: The assistance of a potential suitor. This theme extends to his other work, Double Indemnity (1934). Such elements of the book were a reference to the Gray and Snyder trial. Raymond Chandler was a significant author who managed to see some works made into films. In 1944, he argued for the genre to be seen critically in his essay from ‘ The Simple Art of Murder .’ Crime fiction provides unique psychological impacts on readers and enables them to become mediated witnesses through identifying with eyewitnesses of

6156-628: The bureaucracy of the Baltimore Police Department ; Simon saw similarities with his own ordeals as a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun . Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his familiarity with the city. During his time as a writer and producer for the NBC program Homicide: Life on the Street , based on his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991), also set in Baltimore, Simon had come into conflict with NBC network executives who were displeased by

6270-500: The camera for the first time in the series to play Augustus Haynes , the principled editor of the city desk of The Baltimore Sun . He is joined in the newsroom by two other new stars; Michelle Paress and Tom McCarthy play young reporters Alma Gutierrez and Scott Templeton . The first season introduces two major groups of characters: the Baltimore Police Department and a drug dealing organization run by

6384-606: The case moving. On the other side of the investigation was Avon Barksdale 's drug empire. The driven, ruthless Barksdale ( Wood Harris ) was aided by business-minded Stringer Bell ( Idris Elba ). Avon's nephew D'Angelo Barksdale ( Larry Gilliard Jr. ) ran some of his uncle's territory, but also possessed a guilty conscience, while loyal Wee-Bey Brice ( Hassan Johnson ) was responsible for multiple homicides carried out on Avon's orders. Working under D'Angelo were Poot ( Tray Chaney ), Bodie ( J. D. Williams ), and Wallace ( Michael B. Jordan ), all street-level drug dealers. Wallace

6498-473: The characters are typically betrayed by the institutions that they accept in their lives. There is also a sentiment echoed by a detective in Narcotics—"Shit rolls downhill"—which describes how superiors, especially in the higher tiers of the Police Department in the series, will attempt to use subordinates as scapegoats for any major scandals. Simon described the show as "cynical about institutions" while taking

6612-400: The city; Simon was welcomed to work there again. He hoped the show would change the opinions of some viewers but said that it was unlikely to affect the issues it portrays. The casting of the show has been praised for avoiding big-name stars and using character actors who appear natural in their roles. The looks of the cast as a whole have been described as defying TV expectations by presenting

6726-408: The coroner deemed to be coronary artery disease and atherosclerotic heart disease . Tributes were paid by colleagues and friends, including Reddick's The Wire co-stars Wendell Pierce and Isiah Whitlock Jr. , as well as creator David Simon . Reddick's John Wick co-stars Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane also paid tribute to him, as did his Horizon co-star Ashly Burch and others from

6840-465: The country. The Spanish writers emphasized the corruption and ineptitude of the police, and depicted the authorities and the wealthy in very negative terms. In China, crime fiction is a major literary tradition, with works dating to the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Modern Chinese crime fiction emerged from the 1890s, and was also influenced by translations of foreign works. Cheng Xiaoqing , considered

6954-480: The crime and find the murderer within three days, or be executed if he fails his assignment. The story has been described as a " whodunit " murder mystery with multiple plot twists . The story has detective fiction elements. Two other Arabian Nights stories, "The Merchant and the Thief" and "Ali Khwaja", contain two of the earliest fictional detectives , who uncover clues and present evidence to catch or convict

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7068-470: The crimes are usually unsolved, and clues are left for the reader to decipher. Famous writers include Leonardo Sciascia , Umberto Eco , and Carlo Emilio Gadda . In Spain, The Nail and Other Tales of Mystery and Crime was published by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón in 1853. Crime fiction in Spain (also curtailed in Francoist Spain ) took on some special characteristics that reflected the culture of

7182-472: The dangers of her job from her domestic partner. Her investigative work was greatly helped by her confidential informant , a drug addict known as Bubbles ( Andre Royo ). Like Greggs, partners Thomas "Herc" Hauk ( Domenick Lombardozzi ) and Ellis Carver ( Seth Gilliam ) were reassigned to the detail from the narcotics unit. The duo's initially violent nature was eventually subdued as they proved useful in grunt work, and sometimes served as comic relief for

7296-399: The episodes are preceded by a recap of events that have a bearing upon the upcoming narrative , using clips from previous episodes. Rather than overlaying songs on the soundtrack, or employing a score, The Wire primarily uses pieces of music that emanate from a source within the scene, such as a jukebox or car radio. This kind of music is known as diegetic or source cue . This practice

7410-542: The existence of spies. Prior media used the Cold War for inspiration and provided commentary on such events. Examples include numerous works by John le Carré and Gorky Park (1981), which was written by Martin Cruz Smith . Inspiration can be drawn from the legal system around the world, with varying degrees of realism. In these cases, a sense of morality and the more dubious parts of society are explored based on

7524-493: The fifth uses an extended version of "Way Down In The Hole" by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the same version of the song used as the opening theme for the first season. While the songs reflect the mood of the sequence, their lyrics are usually only loosely tied to the visual shots. In the commentary track to episode 37, " Mission Accomplished ", executive producer David Simon said: "I hate it when somebody purposely tries to have

7638-460: The genre was baptized with the term libri gialli or yellow books. The genre was outlawed by the Fascists during WWII , but exploded in popularity after the war, especially influenced by the American hard-boiled school of crime fiction. A group of mainstream Italian writers emerged, who used the detective format to create an antidetective or postmodern novel in which the detectives are imperfect,

7752-517: The genre. Many stories often begin when the crime has already occurred. Such fiction also tends to draw from the cultural aspects in which the work originated, whether from recent events or from a general consensus and viewpoints. The use of serial killers and unreliable narrators exists in a decent variety of crime fiction as well. The plot-puzzle formula, which was frequent in the Golden Age, makes use of potential hints and solutions to drive

7866-414: The good guys." Like Lost , Fringe was co-created and produced by J. J. Abrams . There was some doubt about whether Reddick could appear in both Lost and Fringe in the 2008–2009 television season. However, Abrams stated that, even though Reddick was a series regular on Fringe , he would do episodes of Lost whenever required. Reddick appeared in the 2013 thriller White House Down . He starred in

7980-425: The history of crime fiction, some authors have been reluctant to publish their novels under their real names. More recently, some publish pseudonymously because of the belief that since the large booksellers are aware of their historical sales figures, and command a certain degree of influence over publishers, the only way to "break out" of their current advance numbers is to publish as someone with no track record. In

8094-601: The huge popularity of this genre. A precursor was Paul Féval , whose series Les Habits Noirs (1862–67) features Scotland Yard detectives and criminal conspiracies. The best-selling crime novel of the 19th century was Fergus Hume 's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), set in Melbourne, Australia. The evolution of the print mass media in the United Kingdom and the United States in the latter half of

8208-501: The industry." The first inaugural winner of the award, given at the 51st Saturn Awards , was Reddick's John Wick: Chapter 4 co-star, Keanu Reeves . The first-season finale of the Disney+ TV series Percy Jackson and The Olympians was dedicated to Reddick's memory. He played the character Zeus in one of his final posthumously released television roles. Show co-creator Rick Riordan remarked on working with Reddick, "He had

8322-634: The initial four-person team. Following Colesberry's death, she became the show's second executive producer alongside Simon. Stories for the show were often co-written by Burns, who also became a producer in the show's fourth season. Other writers include three acclaimed crime fiction writers from outside of Baltimore: George Pelecanos from Washington, Richard Price from the Bronx and Dennis Lehane from Boston. Reviewers drew comparisons between Price's works (particularly Clockers ) and The Wire even before he joined. In addition to writing, Pelecanos served as

8436-511: The institutions featured on the show. The majority of the cast is black, which accurately reflects the demographics of Baltimore . The show's creators are also willing to kill off major characters, so that viewers cannot assume that a given character will survive simply because of a starring role or popularity among fans. In response to a question on why a certain character had to die, David Simon said, We are not selling hope, or audience gratification, or cheap victories with this show. The Wire

8550-444: The intro music fades in. The show's opening title sequence then plays; a series of shots, mainly close-ups, concerning the show's subject matter that changes from season to season, separated by fast cutting (a technique rarely used in the show itself). The opening credits are superimposed on the sequence, and consist only of actors' names without identifying which actors play which roles. In addition, actors' faces are rarely seen in

8664-437: The larger bookshops and overseas booksellers. The British Library has also (since 2012) started republishing "lost" crime classics, with the collection referred to on their website as the "British Library Crime Classics series". Sometimes, older crime novels are revived by screenwriters and directors rather than publishing houses. In many such cases, publishers then follow suit and release a so-called "film tie-in" edition showing

8778-663: The late 1930s and 1940s, British County Court Judge Arthur Alexander Gordon Clark (1900–1958) published a number of detective novels under the alias Cyril Hare , in which he made use of his profoundly extensive knowledge of the English legal system. When he was still young and unknown, award-winning British novelist Julian Barnes (born 1946) published some crime novels under the alias Dan Kavanagh. Other authors take delight in cherishing their alter egos ; Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) wrote one sort of crime novels as Ruth Rendell and another type as Barbara Vine ; John Dickson Carr also used

8892-415: The legal liaison between the detail and the courthouse and also had a sexual relationship with McNulty. In the homicide division, Bunk Moreland ( Wendell Pierce ) was a gifted, dry-witted, hard-drinking detective partnered with McNulty under Sergeant Jay Landsman ( Delaney Williams ), the sarcastic, sharp-tongued squad supervisor. Peter Gerety had a recurring role as Judge Phelan, the official who started

9006-615: The live-action Resident Evil Netflix series. He also provided the voice of Hellboy in the video game Hellboy Web of Wyrd . The game was released following his death. He appeared posthumously as the Greek god Zeus in the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians , the Disney+ adaptation of the book series of the same name . Reddick died suddenly on March 17, 2023, aged 60, at his home in Studio City, Los Angeles , from what

9120-513: The lyrics match the visual. It brutalizes the visual in a way to have the lyrics dead on point. ... Yet at the same time it can't be totally off point. It has to glance at what you're trying to say." Two soundtrack albums, called The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter—Five Years of Music from The Wire and Beyond Hamsterdam , were released on January 8, 2008, on Nonesuch Records . The former features music from all five seasons of

9234-462: The main inspiration of Omar Little . Martin O'Malley served as "one of the inspirations" for Tommy Carcetti . The show often cast non-professional actors in minor roles, distinguishing itself from other television series by showing the "faces and voices of the real city" it depicts. The writing also uses contemporary slang to enhance the immersive viewing experience. In distinguishing the police characters from other television detectives, Simon makes

9348-514: The monthly Strand in the United Kingdom. The series quickly attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic, and when Doyle killed off Holmes in " The Final Problem ", the public outcry was so great, and the publishing offers for more stories so attractive, that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him. In Italy, early translations of English and American stories and local works were published in cheap yellow covers, thus

9462-574: The plot over in-depth character development. Dorothy L. Sayers contributed the Wimsey novels. Her work focused on the spectacle of crime deduction. She also displayed an exaggerated form of aristocratic society, straying from a more realistic story. Other novelists tapped into this setting, such as Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh ; Allingham, Christie, Marsh and Sayers are known as the Queens of Crime . Other British authors are G. K. Chesterton with

9576-431: The point that even the best police of The Wire are motivated not by a desire to protect and serve, but by the intellectual vanity of believing they are smarter than the criminals they are chasing. While many of the police do exhibit altruistic qualities, many officers portrayed on the show are incompetent, brutal, self-aggrandizing, or hamstrung by bureaucracy and politics. The criminals are not always motivated by profit or

9690-517: The print news medium. Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his familiarity with the city. When the series first aired, the large cast consisted mainly of actors who were unknown to television audiences, as well as numerous real-life Baltimore and Maryland figures in guest and recurring roles. Simon has said that despite its framing as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one

9804-446: The pseudonym Carter Dickson . Author Evan Hunter (which itself was a pseudonym) wrote his crime fiction under the name of Ed McBain. As crime fiction has expanded, there have been many common tropes that emerge from this category of fiction. Such occurrences can appear in a variety of subgenres and media. While the format may vary across different forms of crime fiction, there are many elements that are generally consistent throughout

9918-817: The role of Cedric Daniels after auditioning for the roles of Bunk and heroin addict Bubbles . Michael K. Williams got the part of Omar Little after only a single audition. Williams himself recommended Felicia Pearson for the role of Snoop after meeting her at a local Baltimore bar, shortly after she had served prison time for a second degree murder conviction. Several prominent real-life Baltimore figures, including former Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. ; Rev. Frank M. Reid III; radio personality Marc Steiner ; former police chief and radio personality Ed Norris ; Baltimore Sun reporter and editor David Ettlin; Howard County Executive Ken Ulman ; and former mayor Kurt Schmoke have appeared in minor roles despite not being professional actors. "Little Melvin" Williams ,

10032-460: The role of Mr. Eko , but he was busy filming The Wire . Reddick released his debut album Contemplations & Remembrances in 2007, and in early 2008, he was cast in a key role in the pilot of Fringe , in which his fellow Oz actor Kirk Acevedo also had a regular role. Reddick played Phillip Broyles, the head of an FBI department investigating paranormal activities. Reddick described this character as "a real hard-ass, but he's also one of

10146-493: The rules that the work provides. Melville Davisson Post ’s Rudolph Mason: The Strange Schemes (1896) and Harper Lee ’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) are notable examples. Additionally, stories like Double Indemnity (1934) are based on cases from reality. Only a select few authors have achieved the status of "classics" for their published works. A classic is any text that can be received and accepted universally, because they transcend context. A popular, well-known example

10260-480: The season. Thus, the viewer needs to follow every conversation closely to understand the ongoing story arc and the relevance of each character to it. Salon has described the show as novelistic in structure, with a greater depth of writing and plotting than other crime shows. Each season of The Wire consists of 10 to 13 episodes that form several multi-layered narratives. Simon chose this structure with an eye towards long story arcs that draw in viewers, resulting in

10374-418: The second season ended, the focus shifted away from the ports, leaving the new characters behind. The third season saw several previously recurring characters assuming larger starring roles, including Detective Leander Sydnor ( Corey Parker Robinson ), Bodie (J.D. Williams), Omar (Michael K. Williams), Proposition Joe ( Robert F. Chew ), and Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin ( Robert Wisdom ). Colvin commanded

10488-448: The series and the latter includes local Baltimore artists exclusively. The writers strove to create a realistic vision of an American city based on their own experiences. Simon, originally a reporter for The Baltimore Sun , spent a year researching a Baltimore homicide detective unit for his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets , where he met Burns. Burns served in the Baltimore Police Department for 20 years and later became

10602-449: The show in each of its first three seasons. Baltimore Sun writer and political journalist William F. Zorzi joined the writing staff in the third season and brought a wealth of experience to the show's examination of Baltimore politics. Playwright and television writer/producer Eric Overmyer joined the crew of The Wire in the show's fourth season as a consulting producer and writer. He had also previously worked on Homicide . Overmyer

10716-399: The show's creator, head writer , showrunner , and executive producer , much of the creative team behind The Wire were alumni of Homicide and Primetime Emmy Award -winning miniseries The Corner . The Corner veteran, Robert F. Colesberry , was executive producer for the first two seasons and directed the season 2 finale before dying from complications from heart surgery in 2004. He

10830-415: The show's pessimism. Simon wanted to avoid a repeat of these conflicts and chose to take The Wire to HBO , because of their working relationship from the miniseries The Corner . HBO was initially doubtful about including a police drama in its lineup but agreed to produce the pilot episode. Simon approached the mayor of Baltimore , telling him that he wanted to give a bleak portrayal of certain aspects of

10944-579: The starring cast. Gbenga Akinnagbe returns as the previously recurring Chris Partlow , chief enforcer of the now dominant Stanfield Organization . Neal Huff reprises his role as mayoral chief of staff Michael Steintorf , having previously appeared as a guest star at the end of the fourth season. Two other actors also joined the starring cast, having previously portrayed their corrupt characters as guest stars— Michael Kostroff as defense attorney Maurice Levy and Isiah Whitlock Jr. as State Senator Clay Davis . Crew member Clark Johnson appeared in front of

11058-533: The theme as an opportunity to explore how individuals end up like the show's criminal characters and to dramatize the notion that hard work is not always justly rewarded. Simon has identified the organizations featured in the show—the Baltimore Police Department, City Hall, the Baltimore public school system , the Barksdale drug trafficking operation , The Baltimore Sun , and the stevedores ' union—as comparable institutions. All are dysfunctional in some way, and

11172-405: The theme of the fourth season. Rather than focusing solely on the school system, the fourth season looks at schools as a porous part of the community that are affected by problems outside of their boundaries. Burns states that education comes from many sources other than schools and that children can be educated by other means, including contact with the drug dealers they work for. Burns and Simon see

11286-521: The title sequence. At the end of the sequence, a quotation ( epigraph ) is shown on-screen that is spoken by a character during the episode. The three exceptions were the first season finale which uses the phrase "All in the game", attributed to "Traditional West Baltimore", a phrase used frequently throughout all five seasons including that episode; the fourth season finale which uses the words "If animal trapped call 410-844-6286" written on boarded up vacant homes attributed to "Baltimore, traditional" and

11400-449: The toll drugs and violence are taking on the black community. Many important events occur off-camera and there is no artificial exposition in the form of voice-over or flashbacks , with the exceptions of two flashbacks – one at the end of the pilot episode that replays a moment from earlier in the same episode and one at the end of the fourth season finale that shows a short clip of a character tutoring his younger brother earlier in

11514-504: The trial, most notably Avon's second-in-command, Stringer Bell . He also tells Phelan that no one is investigating Barksdale's criminal activity, which includes a significant portion of the city's drug trade and several unsolved homicides. Crime fiction It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as historical fiction and science fiction , but the boundaries are indistinct. Crime fiction has several subgenres , including detective fiction (such as

11628-407: The video game industry. Thousands of players in the games Destiny and Destiny 2 visited Reddick's character, Commander Zavala, standing vigil or using in-game emotes to salute him. Reddick's family asked fans to give to MOMCares, a Baltimore nonprofit supporting underserved mothers with babies in neonatal intensive care. The organization received $ 12,000 in donations, the most it has received in

11742-402: The viewer. Rounding out the temporary unit were detectives Lester Freamon ( Clarke Peters ) and Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski ( Jim True-Frost ). Freamon, seen as a quiet "house cat", soon proved to be one of the unit's most methodical and experienced investigators, with a knack for noticing important details and a deep knowledge of public records and paper trails. Prez faced sanction early on and

11856-740: The voice and likeness for video game characters Martin Hatch in Quantum Break , Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West , and Commander Zavala in the Destiny franchise. Lance Solomon Reddick was born in Baltimore , Maryland , the son of Dorothy Gee and Solomon Reddick. He attended Friends School of Baltimore . As a teenager, he studied music at the Peabody Preparatory Institute , and

11970-445: The wiretaps provide the police with access to a secret world, just as the show does for the viewer. Simon has discussed the use of camera shots of surveillance equipment, or shots that appear to be taken from the equipment itself, to emphasize the volume of surveillance in modern life and the characters' need to sift through this information. The Wire employs a broad ensemble cast, supplemented by many recurring guest stars who populate

12084-572: Was an intelligent but naive youth trapped in the drug trade, and Poot a randy young man happy to follow rather than lead. Omar Little ( Michael K. Williams ), a renowned Baltimore stick-up man robbing drug dealers for a living, was a frequent thorn in the side of the Barksdale clan. The second season introduced a new group of characters working in the Port of Baltimore area, including Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos ( Paul Ben-Victor ), Beadie Russell ( Amy Ryan ), and Frank Sobotka ( Chris Bauer ). Vondas

12198-483: Was brought into the full-time production staff to replace Pelecanos who scaled back his involvement to concentrate on his next book and worked on the fourth season solely as a writer. Primetime Emmy Award winner, Homicide and The Corner , writer and college friend of Simon, David Mills also joined the writing staff in the fourth season. Directors include Homicide alumnus Clark Johnson , who directed several acclaimed episodes of The Shield , and Tim Van Patten ,

12312-519: Was cast as Cedric Daniels in the HBO series The Wire , having also auditioned for the roles of Bubbles and Bunk Moreland . He joined ABC 's series Lost in 2008, where he played Matthew Abaddon , an employee of Charles Widmore , in multiple episodes. He was the third of five actors from the HBO series Oz to star in the drama. Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse considered Reddick for

12426-410: Was featured in several novels written by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee , serving as both a character and pen name. In such novels, clues may be analyzed by the protagonist in tandem with the viewer, generating the possibility of understanding the narrative before it is revealed in the book. Past the Golden Age, events such as the Great Depression and the transition between World Wars ushered in

12540-530: Was forced into office duty, but this setback quickly became a boon as he demonstrated natural skill at deciphering the communication codes used by the Barksdale organization. These investigators were overseen by two commanding officers more concerned with politics and their own careers than the case, Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell ( Frankie Faison ) and Major William Rawls ( John Doman ). Assistant state's attorney Rhonda Pearlman ( Deirdre Lovejoy ) acted as

12654-461: Was launched by the actions of Detective Jimmy McNulty ( Dominic West ), whose insubordinate tendencies and personal problems played counterpoint to his ability as a criminal investigator. The detail was led by Lieutenant Cedric Daniels ( Lance Reddick ) who faced challenges balancing his career aspirations with his desire to produce a good case. Kima Greggs ( Sonja Sohn ) was a capable lead detective who faced jealousy from colleagues and worry about

12768-419: Was published in 1860, while The Moonstone (1868) is often thought to be his masterpiece. French author Émile Gaboriau 's Monsieur Lecoq (1868) laid the groundwork for the methodical, scientifically minded detective. The evolution of locked-room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Doyle's are said to have been singularly responsible for

12882-404: Was released on June 28, 2018. Reddick later starred in the 2018 horror thriller film Monster Party . He also voiced the character Sylens in the 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn and reprised the role in the sequel Horizon Forbidden West . In 2021, Reddick appeared in the film Godzilla vs. Kong . In 2022, Reddick portrayed Albert Wesker and his clones Al, Bert, and Alby Wesker in

12996-483: Was the underboss of a global smuggling operation, Russell an inexperienced port authority officer and single mother thrown in at the deep end of a multiple homicide investigation, and Frank Sobotka a union leader who turned to crime to raise funds to save his union. Also joining the show in season 2 were Nick Sobotka ( Pablo Schreiber ), Frank's nephew; Ziggy Sobotka ( James Ransone ), Frank's troubled son; and " The Greek " ( Bill Raymond ), Vondas' mysterious boss. As

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