At this time last year, I was beside myself with excitement for the premiere of The Wire's fifth season.

This year? Well, I'm not sure if you heard, but David Simon's masterful HBO series ended its five-year run last March. And if you hadn't heard, I will assume you've just awoken from a coma.

I have been pretty excited to see many of the show's sprawling cast members popping up in decent cameos and recurring parts on TV and in movies. It gives me some consolation that The Wire is, in a very small way, still alive -- which is more than I can say for Dominic West's career. Perhaps fellow cast mates of the English actor, who played the show's resident slutty, drunk cop, Jimmy McNulty, should send out an APB on their friend. Or, maybe West has just hunkered down inside a pub somewhere drowning his sorrows while his talented former cohorts, like these folks below, continue to make Simon, and me, proud. (Sniff, sniff.)

Character: William "Bunk" Moreland
Played by: Wendell Pierce
I've loved this roly-poly actor ever since the quasi-striptease number he performed for Lela Rochon in Waiting to Exhale. Pierce has long been a familiar face in the biz and recently appeared on Numb3rs (in October), and is currently in production on a biopic about trumpeter Buddy Bolden of New Orleans, which also happens to be Pierce's hometown. Sources say the actor is set to appear in a new Simon drama called Treme, though details on that are still hush-hush.

Character: Lt. Cedric Daniels
Played by: Lance Reddick
This man has a regal elegance about him that's rarely seen outside of Shakespearean theater. A real-life native of The Wire's backdrop, Baltimore, Reddick has thus far been the busiest Wire alum. He's a series regular on FOX's Fringe, and will soon be seen in the forthcoming fifth season of Lost. I was half dismayed to see Reddick in a television ad for Cadillac CTS, but I guess any further exposure for this fine, fine performer is welcome.

Character: Russell "Stringer" Bell
Played by: Idris Elba
Last month, I made the mistake of paying eight bucks to see Guy Ritchie's latest film, RocknRolla (it was, in a word, ridiculous), but was heartened and a little surprised to see Elba, speaking in his native British tongue. (I hadn't a clue this guy was English!) He was the only thing that made the crime caper watchable. We can look forward to seeing him appear in no fewer than four feature films in the next year, including a drama called Obsessed starring Ms. Beyoncé herself.

Character: Det. Shakima Greggs
Played by: Sonja Sohn
This lady threw me for a loop when she popped up fairly inexplicably as Calista Flockhart's potential surrogate mother on Brothers & Sisters. But I was happy to see her enter the fray of popular network TV as her pregnant physician poses a risky question: When someone can afford a baby, but they simply don't want one, is that OK? Her stoicism tinged with sweetness, which she employed quite convincingly as lesbian-detective Greggs on The Wire, shines throughout this provocative plot line.

Character: Omar Little
Played by: Michael K. Williams
Was there ever a more frightening and somehow still lovable character on TV than Omar Little? Clearly Williams' run as The Wire's Robin Hood-like gangster scored him serious attention, as he's set to appear in seven film projects, including The Untitled Todd Solondz Project, which is currently filming. If it's made by Todd Solondz, it's going to be bizarre. Cast members include Ally Sheedy, Allison Janney, and Paul Reubens -- and I can't wait to see how Williams, the face of The Wire, is used in an art-house setting.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us