Hey, That Guy Was On The Wire! Nine Celebrities You Forgot Were On The HBO Masterpiece

It Seems Like Everyone Has Been On The Wire

If you were to ask any given television critic to give you a list of the greatest television programs of all time, you would see the HBO masterpiece The Wire near or at the top of each of those lists. Over the course of five seasons, the crime drama set in the American city of Baltimore, Maryland, showcased great concepts, writing, and acting from its evergrowing cast of characters.

It seems that any given current television show features at least one actor who had a role on the show’s five-season run. There were so many faces that a lot of people forget that a few of these actors had some kind of role in the crime drama.

Let’s take a look at some of those faces 10 years after the final episode of The Wire.

Michael B. Jordan

More than a decade before he would become an international superstar for his roles in Creed and Black Panther, a young Michael B. Jordan briefly portrayed the tragic story of Wallace, a 16-year-old dealer in the first season of The Wire. Jordan’s performance, though brief, was one of the most poignant of the HBO masterpiece’s first season, with his arc having implications for the rest of the show’s five-season run.

Jordan himself still has an emotional tie to the character that helped kickstart the career of the young actor, as he explained in Jonathan Abram’s 2018 history of the show, All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire.

“Wallace was the heart of the show,” Jordan says in the book (via Vulture). “The Wire creator David Simon wanted to rip that heart out and really use Wallace as a harsh example of sometimes being the victim of your circumstances.”

Jordan followed his role on The Wire with appearances on a number of other television programs before he came in prominence around the time he teamed up with Ryan Coogler for the 2013 film Fruitvale Station. The rest is history.

Aidan Gillen

Most people recognize Aidan Gillen as the cutthroat and self-serving Petyr “Little Finger” Baelish on HBO’s Game of Thrones, but Gillen portrayed a similar character (though not as villainous) in the later seasons of The Wire. Starting with the third season of the show, Gillen joined the cast as Baltimore Alderman turned Mayor Tommy Carcetti.

Throughout his three-season arc on the series, Carcetti was seen as an idealistic and ambitious member of Baltimore society who would do anything (and I mean anything) to improve the state of affairs for the residents, employees, and morale of the City of Baltimore.

Only a few years after the fifth and final season of The Wire wrapped production, Gillen joined the cast of perhaps HBO’s greatest success in the past 20 years, Game of Thrones. Between the two series, Gillen would also take on a few film roles, and he most recently appeared in the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Idris Elba

Before he portrayed the unconventional and tormented detective John Luther in the BBC series Luther, before he was playing Thor’s best friend in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and even before he was nominated for a number of awards for his portrayal of a conflicted warlord in Beasts of No Nation, Idris Elba first entered the spotlight during his time on The Wire.

Elba gave us one of television’s most well-rounded and conflicted characters with his portrayal as Stringer Bell, the crime kingpin turned attempted legitimate businessman, during the first three seasons of The Wire. It was Elba’s strong acting chops and ability to lose himself in the role that made Bell one of the most feared, yet well-loved characters on the show as well as the rest of television.

Tom McCarthy

Tom McCarthy joined the cast of The Wire for the show’s fifth and final season, where he portrayed a morally bankrupt Baltimore Sun reporter, Scott Templeton, who would do anything in order to tell a good story, no matter how fabricated it might be. As soon as Templeton was introduced, multiple critics believed he was an amalgamation of several real-life journalists who had doctored quotes and fabricated entire stories in order to sell more papers.

Washington City Paper reporter Mark Athitakis wrote at the time:

“The financial changes at newspapers that The Wire describes are real, as anybody who works at a newspaper (including this one) can tell you. Fabricators in the newsroom are very real, too—high-profile frauds such as Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, and Jayson Blair are ample enough proof. Various articles about this season have arrived at the consensus that the model for Templeton is Jim Haner, a former Sun reporter who, Simon has charged, changed quotes and fabricated scenes in his stories.”

It’s hard not to see in the irony in how McCarthy would go on to write and direct one of the most well-received journalism films when he released the award-winning Spotlight in 2015, a mere seven years after portraying the opposite side of the journalism spectrum. McCarthy would go on to take home an Oscar for his Spotlight screenplay.

Talk about finding redemption for such a terrible, nefarious character.

Method Man

Founding member of the hip-hop mega group Wu-Tang Clan turned actor Method Man appeared in all but the first season of The Wire, portraying Melvin “Cheese” Wagstaff, a lieutenant in one of the show’s central crime organizations. Throughout his time on the series, “Cheese” had a hand in a great deal of the comings and goings of the Baltimore criminal underbelly, even leading to a major change in police operations during the show’s third season.

Since appearing on The Wire, Method Man has gone on to have roles in Garden State, CSI, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and even David Simon’s new HBO series, The Deuce, which saw him collaborate with the creator of The Wire once more.

Reg E. Cathey

Reg E. Cathey was probably one of the most decorated actors on The Wire, even before he showed up as a political operative and deputy campaign manager in Tommy Carcetti mayoral run in the show’s fourth season.

Following his time on the wire, Cathey would go on to make appearances in dozens of films and television series, including the Netflix original House of Cards, for which he received an Emmy for outstanding guest in a television series in 2014.

Cathey, unfortunately, passed away at the age of 59 in early 2018, after allegedly succumbing to the effects of lung cancer. In the wake of his death, The Wire creator David Simon issued the following statement on his official Twitter:

“Not only a fine, masterful actor — but simply one of the most delightful human beings with whom I ever shared some long days on set. On wit alone, he could double any man over and leave him thinking. Reg, your memory is a great blessing.”

Lance Reddick

It seems like Lance Reddick was born to be a part of The Wire. The accomplished actor was born and raised in Baltimore, and he even auditioned for two different roles before he was finally cast as Cedric Daniels, the authority figure of the Baltimore Police Department’s wiretapping team. Reddick would appear in all but one of the show’s 60 episodes, where his presence commanded attention and respect from the officers in his squad as well as the criminals they were investigating.

During an interview with Joel Murphy during the height of The Wire’s run, Reddick explained what it was like to film a show of that caliber in his old stomping grounds:

“When I’m in Baltimore, it’s almost like being a movie star. You have people you haven’t heard from since high school, junior high, even elementary school, calling you out of the blue. My first season, I was asked to speak at the graduation of my high school. The other thing that’s cool about it is — I feel like I’m learning about the political history of the city by doing this show.”

Following the conclusion of the show, Reddick would find himself with memorable roles in Lost, Fringe, Bosch, and dozens of other televisions series, feature-length films, and video games.

Amy Ryan

Amy Ryan first appeared on The Wire with a guest star performance as Port Authority officer Beadie Russell in the show’s second season. Throughout the season, Russell helped uncover a wide-ranging human trafficking operation after she discovered more than a dozen dead bodies in a shipping container. Ryan would go on to have a recurring role in the following three seasons when her character entered a relationship with the show’s reluctant hero, Jim McNulty (portrayed by Dominic West).

Following the conclusion of the series, Ryan continued to get praise for her acting, including taking home multiple awards for her performance in the 2007 feature-length film Gone Baby Gone. Ryan would also find success with roles in The Office, Birdman, and dozens of other films and television series.

The Musicians Playing The Show’s Theme Song

Last but not least we have the musicians who each offered their own take on the show’s iconic opening theme, “Way Down in the Hole,” which was originally written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album, Frank’s Wild Years. Although the same song was played throughout the entire series, each season featured a different variation.

The Blind Boys of Alabama performed a version of the song for the show’s debut season, which was followed by Waits himself in time for the second season of the series. The third season would feature New Orleans legends, the Neville Brothers.

To reflect the public school plotline of the show’s fourth season, showrunner David Simon enlisted Doreen Vail, Maurette Brown-Clark, and J.B. Wilkins, to help produce a version more fitting of the show. During an interview with Borderline Productions, Simon explained that it was quite a process to put it all together.

“In keeping with the theme of the season, we sought out voices of middle-school-aged students from Baltimore,” Simon said. “Rather than seek out a particular recording artist this year, we tried for the essential voice of our adolescent characters… Specifically, our theme was arranged and produced by Doreen Vail, Maurette Brown-Clark and J.B. Wilkins. The young voices featured are those of Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse. The musicians are Ronald Lindsey and Thomas Crosson. Mike Potter engineered the session. All of the boys are from Baltimore and Tony Small, who directs a boys choir locally, found them for us.”

Country singer Steve Earle would go on to offer his services for the fifth and final season.