With a near-perfect critics’ score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes,The Wireremains one of the greatest crime drama series of all time. Over a five-season run, the series used dramatized situations to shed light on real-life issues and served as a social commentary. At the time, the casting team stayed away from large names,giving many ofThe Wire’s stars their first foot in the business.Among the blossoming superstars are names likeIdris Elba,Dominic West, and the lateLance Reddick. Despite being one of HBO’s most popular productions in the history of the studio and the title that would launch his incredibly successful career,Elba recently admitted that he’s never watched the show.
During a recent appearance onAmy Poehler’sGood Hangpodcast, theLutherstar said,
“If I’m really honest, I didn’t watchThe Wire. I didn’t watch it. And I feel bad. It’s not that I’m not a fan of it — I was there. I made a show that was, you know, so intense and so real, so important, even though we didn’t realize it.Ididn’t realize the importance of the show while making it. I didn’t participate in its celebration as a viewer, as a fan. And so I feel a little bit outside of the club. It’s more that I feel the presence of it all, my life sinceThe Wire… In terms of its impact. So to me, it was almost a bit like I was Stringer Bell. I’mnotStringer Bell, but I also feel like when Stringer Bell died, there was a part of me that died with that character. It’s weird for me to go back and watch it.”
Idris Elba Was Hesitant About His Character’s Death
Elba’s character, Stringer Bell, was a big player in the drug world during the first three seasons of the series. He eventually wouldmeet a harrowing fateafter attempting to play some of his peers. Many of the characters inThe Wireare based on real people and, since his charactergot out of the game in real life,Elba says he wasn’t super into the idea of being killed off at first, telling Poehler,
“I had reservations about how Stringer was dying. There was various ways that [series creator]David Simonwanted to depict that, and I was a little bit against some of that. But the actual beheading of Stringer was an important move, you know? Just to illustrate to the world that, ‘Hey, man, take the blinkers off.' Stringer is a real person who is still alive. And ‘Stringer’ went on to become a very successful businessman who will remain anonymous forever but successfully built a lot of businesses and, you know, crawled out of the hole. [But] in dramatic terms, on The Wire, it wouldn’t have made sense for Stringer to get out. Although in reality, ‘Stringer’ did get out. But that’s not dramatic enough, you know? That’s not the story.”
The Wireis now streaming on HBO Max. You can check out Elba and Poehler’s full conversation in the video above.
Source:Rotten Tomatoes
