More with Less
Encyclopedia
"More with Less" is the first episode of the fifth season of the HBO original series, The Wire
. The episode was written by David Simon
from a story by David Simon & Ed Burns
and was directed by Joe Chappelle
. It originally aired on January 6, 2008.
; managing editor Thomas Klebanow states that they "simply have to do more with less". It also refers to the unstable fiscal situation in Baltimore, which affects many other institutions, including the police department. In several interviews, creator David Simon has professed that despite being an oft-repeated command to dying institutions, the ability to do more with less is an inherent impossibility.
as Jimmy McNulty
; Reg E. Cathey
as Norman Wilson; John Doman
as William Rawls
; Aidan Gillen
as Tommy Carcetti
; Clark Johnson
as Augustus Haynes
; Deirdre Lovejoy
as Rhonda Pearlman
; Tom McCarthy
as Scott Templeton
; Clarke Peters
as Lester Freamon
; Wendell Pierce
as Bunk Moreland
; Sonja Sohn as Kima Greggs
; Lance Reddick
as Cedric Daniels
; Andre Royo
as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins; Seth Gilliam
as Ellis Carver
; Domenick Lombardozzi
as Thomas "Herc" Hauk; Michael Kenneth Williams as Omar Little
; Gbenga Akinnagbe
as Chris Partlow
; Jamie Hector
as Marlo Stanfield
; Neal Huff
as Michael Steintorf; Jermaine Crawford
as Duquan "Dukie" Weems; Corey Parker Robinson
as Leander Sydnor
; Tristan Wilds
as Michael Lee
; Michael Kostroff
as Maurice Levy
; Michelle Paress
as Alma Gutierrez
; Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
as Clay Davis
.
Clark Johnson, Tom McCarthy, and Michelle Paress joins the main cast as journalists at The Baltimore Sun
. Neal Huff, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Tristan Wilds, Jermaine Crawford, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., and Michael Kostroff are now billed in the opening credits. Reg E. Cathey’s credit has moved up to the start with the credits in alphabetical order instead of the section where two or more names appear at a time. Fourth season stars no longer appearing in the starring credits include Frankie Faison
(Commissioner Ervin Burrell
), Jim True-Frost
(teacher Roland Pryzbylewski), Robert Wisdom
(retired police officer Howard Colvin), Chad L. Coleman (community boxing trainer Dennis "Cutty" Wise), Glynn Turman
(ex-Mayor Clarence Royce
) and JD Williams (murdered drug dealer Bodie Broadus
).
Although credited, Michael K. Williams and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. do not appear in this episode.
Lee Everett Cox and David Costabile’s names are misspelled in the credits as Lee Evertt Cox and David Costible respectively.
extracts a confession from a suspect using manipulation and a mock polygraph test, tricking the suspect into thinking a photocopier is the polygraph machine. His reasoning gives the episode its epigraph "the bigger the lie, the more they believe."
's plan to rejuvenate the police department has been halted by funding cuts necessitated by the massive education deficit. Norman Wilson remains disappointed in Carcetti for refusing the governor's assistance for the schools and putting his ambition to unseat the governor before his responsibilities as mayor. Police commanders Ervin Burrell
and William Rawls
are forced to accept further funding cuts from Carcetti but convince him to lift the limits on secondary employment for police officers.
Mayor Carcetti and Council President Campbell meet with the Republican U.S. Attorney as a means of enlisting federal resources to help the Baltimore Police Department. Carcetti is told that as political corruption and counter-terrorism are the Justice Department's main investigative priorities, the U.S. Attorney's office will grant them a dozen FBI agents in exchange for corrupt state senator Clay Davis
. In the discussion, Carcetti defends Baltimore City State's Attorney Rupert Bond's decision to keep the case local, as he fears the Republican attorney will use the case to damage the image of the Democratic Party. Campbell then criticizes Carcetti for upsetting the feds and as they discuss Clay Davis, Carcetti claims that Bond will charge most of the Royce
administration, including Campbell, who herself sees Bond's motive to charge Davis as a means of one day running against her for mayor.
and their involvement with the murders in the vacant houses has still not produced enough evidence to make arrests, but their continued observation has curtailed some of the criminals' activity. Marlo Stanfield
continues to scheme despite noticing the continued surveillance. He is intimidating independent drug dealers into buying his narcotics, causing unrest in the New Day Co-Op
about splitting up new territory, and has Chris Partlow working to find Sergei Malatov as a connection to the Co-Ops' suppliers.
The Unit is closed down as part of the cutbacks, effectively ending investigation of the murders that produced the 22 corpses found in vacant buildings. Colonel Cedric Daniels
convinces Carcetti to retain detectives Lester Freamon
and Leander Sydnor
to staff the Davis investigation.
is outraged and despondent upon his return to the homicide unit. McNulty has begun drinking heavily and womanizing again and fails to return home to his domestic partner Beadie Russell
.
struggles to keep his men in line and drinks after work with his old partner Thomas "Herc" Hauk. Herc has been discharged from the department and is now using his contacts in the department as a defense investigator for Maurice Levy
.
is acting as an enforcer under Partlow while his friend and cohabitant Duquan "Dukie" Weems runs their drug dealing crew. Dukie has not gained the respect of the crew and Michael suggests paying him for looking after his younger brother Bug instead.
newsroom similar funding cutbacks are affecting the reporters' morale and work. Editor Gus Haynes remains principled and efficient. His institutional memory allows his team to identify and break a story about city council president Nerese Campbell relocating known drug dealer Ricardo "Fat-face Rick" Hendrix’s strip club out of out a redeveloping neighborhood at a considerable cost to the city budget, and to link the plan to campaign contributions from Hendrix. Ambitious reporter Scott Templeton
remains dissatisfied while his colleague Alma Gutierrez
is happy with her work.
is living in his sister's basement and no longer using drugs. However, he often must leave each evening as his sister (who regularly works the night shift) does not trust him enough to leave him alone in her house. He walks through the city while she's at work, trying to avoid the temptations of the street. Bubbles works as a rush hour distributor of The Baltimore Sun to commuters – he sells a copy to Campbell, who is outraged by the Fat-face Rick story.
The WIRE
the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...
. The episode was written by David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
from a story by David Simon & Ed Burns
Ed Burns
Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
and was directed by Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle
Joe Chappelle is an American film and television director and producer. Chappelle was a Co-executive producer and regular Director for the HBO crime drama The Wire...
. It originally aired on January 6, 2008.
Title reference
The title refers to the cutbacks and buyouts at The Baltimore SunThe Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
; managing editor Thomas Klebanow states that they "simply have to do more with less". It also refers to the unstable fiscal situation in Baltimore, which affects many other institutions, including the police department. In several interviews, creator David Simon has professed that despite being an oft-repeated command to dying institutions, the ability to do more with less is an inherent impossibility.
Epigraph
Bunk makes this remark after perpetrating an elaborate hoax to trick a young suspect into confessing to a crime. Season 5 of the Wire will revolve around a series of lies, both public and private. This episode also marks the second time the epigraph is spoken during the cold open sequence. The other time was in the first episode of season 3.Starring cast
The fifth season starring cast consists of: Dominic WestDominic West
Dominic Gerard Fe West is an English actor best known for his role as Detective Jimmy McNulty in the HBO drama series The Wire.-Film and TV:...
as Jimmy McNulty
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
; Reg E. Cathey
Reg E. Cathey
Reginald "Reg" E. Cathey is an American stage, film and television actor.Cathey is a native of Huntsville, Alabama and a graduate of J.O. Johnson High School. He spent his childhood in West Germany. His favourite band is Blur....
as Norman Wilson; John Doman
John Doman
John Doman is an American actor best known for playing Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on HBO series The Wire from 2002 to 2008 and Colonel Edward Galson on Oz in 2001....
as William Rawls
William Rawls
William A. "Bill" Rawls is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor John Doman. Over the course of the series he ascends to the rank of Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.-Season 1:...
; Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen is an Irish stage and screen actor and television presenter. He is known in Ireland for his role in Love/Hate, in the UK for his role in Queer as Folk and in the US for his role in HBO's television series The Wire in which he plays Tommy Carcetti and for his role in Game of Thrones as...
as Tommy Carcetti
Tommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
; Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson , sometimes credited as Clark 'Slappy' Jackson, Clarque Johnson, and J. Clark Johnson, is an American actor and director who has worked in both television and film.-Early years:...
as Augustus Haynes
Augustus Haynes
Augustus "Gus" Haynes is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clark Johnson, who is also a director for the series. Haynes is the dedicated and principled editor for the Baltimore Sun city desk.-Character depiction:...
; Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy is an American actress. She is most notable for her role on the HBO television series The Wire as Rhonda Pearlman. She graduated from the University of Evansville with an undergraduate degree in theatre....
as Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman
Rhonda Pearlman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Deirdre Lovejoy. Pearlman has been the legal system liaison for all of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' investigations on the show...
; Tom McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy (actor)
Thomas Joseph McCarthy is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe...
as Scott Templeton
Scott Templeton
M. Scott Templeton is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Thomas McCarthy. The actor joined the starring cast as the series' fifth season began.-Biography:...
; Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters
Clarke Peters is an American actor, singer, writer and director best known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon on the HBO drama The Wire.-Early life:...
as Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
; Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Pierce is an American actor, best known for his work in HBO dramas, including his portrayal of Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme.-Life and career:...
as Bunk Moreland
Bunk Moreland
William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who...
; Sonja Sohn as Kima Greggs
Kima Greggs
Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Sonja Sohn. Greggs is a police detective in the Baltimore Police Department who is a dedicated officer and capable detective with some off-the-job issues. Openly lesbian, she has had problems...
; Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
as Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
; Andre Royo
Andre Royo
Andre Royo is an American actor. He is best known for his role as "Bubbles" in The Wire , and has had guest starring appearances in Fringe, Party Down, and How To Make It In America.-Career:...
as Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins; Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam
Seth Gilliam is an American actor. He is known for his HBO television roles, first as corrections officer-turned-prisoner Clayton Hughes on Oz, and later as Baltimore police detective promoted to sergeant Ellis Carver on The Wire. On both of these series, he co-starred with Lance Reddick and J.D....
as Ellis Carver
Ellis Carver
Ellis Carver is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Seth Gilliam. Carver is an African American lieutenant and formerly in command of the Baltimore Police Department's Western District Drug Enforcement Unit...
; Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi is an American actor best known for his role as Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire. Lombardozzi was inspired to act by the film State of Grace.-Filmography:...
as Thomas "Herc" Hauk; Michael Kenneth Williams as Omar Little
Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict moral code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in "the game"....
; Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga Akinnagbe is an American actor, best known for his role as Chris Partlow on the HBO original series The Wire.-Early life:...
as Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow
Chris Partlow is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Gbenga Akinnagbe. Partlow is Marlo Stanfield's best friend, bodyguard, and second-in-command in his drug dealing operation. Despite his quiet demeanor, Partlow commits more on- and off-screen murders than any other...
; Jamie Hector
Jamie Hector
Jamie Hector is an Haitian-American actor who is known for his portrayal of Marlo Stanfield on the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire.- Biography :...
as Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
; Neal Huff
Neal Huff
Neal Huff is an American actor. He received his MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University. He has appeared on Broadway in revivals of The Tempest and The Lion in Winter and the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out...
as Michael Steintorf; Jermaine Crawford
Jermaine Crawford
Jermaine Crawford is an actor best known for appearing on the HBO original series The Wire as Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is a cousin to fellow Wire castmember and actor Tristan Wilds....
as Duquan "Dukie" Weems; Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson
Corey Parker Robinson is an American actor. He may be best known for appearing on the HBO program The Wire as Detective Leander Sydnor. He also appeared in Wire creator David Simon's earlier The Corner as R.C., a young drug dealer and in ER in episode 19 of Season 5 as student Antoine Bell...
as Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Corey Parker Robinson. Sydnor is a young, married Baltimore Police detective who was a member of the Barksdale detail and later worked in the Major Crimes Unit.-Season 1:...
; Tristan Wilds
Tristan Wilds
Tristan Paul Mack Wilds is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Michael Lee on the HBO original drama series The Wire and as Dixon Wilson on the CW drama series 90210.-Life and career:...
as Michael Lee
Michael Lee (The Wire)
Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...
; Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff
Michael Kostroff is an American actor. He appeared on the HBO program The Wire as defense attorney Maurice Levy. Kostroff starred in the fifth season of the series and appeared in all four earlier seasons as a guest star.- Biography :...
as Maurice Levy
Maurice Levy (The Wire)
Maurice "Maury" Levy is a fictional lawyer on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Michael Kostroff. He is a skilled defense attorney and was kept on retainer by the drug-trafficking Barksdale Organization, representing the organization's members at trials and advising Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell...
; Michelle Paress
Michelle Paress
Michelle Paress is an American actress. She starred in the HBO program The Wire as reporter Alma Gutierrez. Paress joined the cast in the show's fifth season. She is married to a former star of the show, actor Larry Gilliard Jr.-External links:...
as Alma Gutierrez
Alma Gutierrez
Alma M. Gutierrez is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Michelle Paress. Gutierrez is a dedicated and idealistic young reporter on the city desk of The Baltimore Sun.-Biography:...
; Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. is an American actor.He is most famous for his role on the HBO television series, The Wire as corrupt state senator Clay Davis. He also is notable for appearing in Spike Lee films She Hate Me and 25th Hour as Agent Amos Flood...
as Clay Davis
Clay Davis
State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes...
.
Clark Johnson, Tom McCarthy, and Michelle Paress joins the main cast as journalists at The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
. Neal Huff, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Tristan Wilds, Jermaine Crawford, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., and Michael Kostroff are now billed in the opening credits. Reg E. Cathey’s credit has moved up to the start with the credits in alphabetical order instead of the section where two or more names appear at a time. Fourth season stars no longer appearing in the starring credits include Frankie Faison
Frankie Faison
Frankie Russel Faison , often credited as Frankie R. Faison, is an American actor.-Personal life:Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi Fraternity...
(Commissioner Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show...
), Jim True-Frost
Jim True-Frost
Jim True-Frost, born Jim True, is an American stage, television and screen actor. He is most known for his portrayal of Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski on all five seasons of the HBO program The Wire.-Biography:...
(teacher Roland Pryzbylewski), Robert Wisdom
Robert Wisdom
Robert Wisdom is an American actor. He is a graduate of Columbia University.-Biography:Wisdom was born in Washington, D.C. to Jamaican parents. He appeared in four of the five seasons of HBO program The Wire as Howard "Bunny" Colvin...
(retired police officer Howard Colvin), Chad L. Coleman (community boxing trainer Dennis "Cutty" Wise), Glynn Turman
Glynn Turman
Glynn Russell Turman is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford...
(ex-Mayor Clarence Royce
Clarence Royce
Clarence V. Royce is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Glynn Turman-Biography:Mayor of Baltimore Clarence V. Royce is a deft political figure and is fixated on remaining in power. Royce is the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore who was elected into office in 1998 and is in the...
) and JD Williams (murdered drug dealer Bodie Broadus
Bodie Broadus
Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a Barksdale organization drug dealer in "The Pit" who slowly rises through the ranks...
).
Although credited, Michael K. Williams and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. do not appear in this episode.
Guest stars
- Frankie FaisonFrankie FaisonFrankie Russel Faison , often credited as Frankie R. Faison, is an American actor.-Personal life:Faison was born in Newport News, Virginia, the son of Carmena and Edgar Faison. He studied drama at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he joined Theta Chi Fraternity...
as Ervin BurrellErvin BurrellErvin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show... - Amy RyanAmy RyanAmy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
as Beatrice "Beadie" RussellBeadie RussellBeatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks.... - Marlyne AfflackMarlyne AfflackMarlyne Nayokah Afflack is an American actress best known her role as Nerese Campbell on The Wire. She also played an attorney in the FX drama Damages and Thomasina, the efficient palace secretary and aide-de-camp, on the NBC series Kings...
as Nerese Campbell - Robert F. ChewRobert F. ChewRobert F. Chew is an American actor from Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in the HBO television drama series The Wire as manipulative drug kingpin Proposition Joe on all five seasons of the show...
as Proposition JoeProposition JoeJoseph "Proposition Joe" Stewart is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire played by actor Robert F. Chew. Joe is an Eastside drug kingpin who preferred a peaceful solution to business disputes when possible... - Delaney WilliamsDelaney WilliamsDelaney Williams is an American actor from Washington, D.C. He appears on the HBO drama The Wire as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role on HBO's mini-series The Corner which brought him to the attention of the producers, who worked on The prior to...
as Jay LandsmanJay Landsman (The Wire)Jay Landsman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Delaney Williams.-Policing method:Landsman's role in the police department is that of a supervisory detective sergeant who doesn't participate in much investigation work... - Felicia PearsonFelicia PearsonFelicia Pearson is an American actress, author, and rapper. She is best known for playing a character of the same name, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, on The Wire. She wrote a memoir titled Grace After Midnight.-Biography:Pearson was born to two incarcerated drug addicts and raised in an East Baltimore...
as Snoop - Duane Rawlings as Hungry Man
- Troj Marquis Strickland as Ricardo "Fatface Rick" Hendrix
- Anwan GloverAnwan GloverRalph Anwan Glover is an American actor and musician. He is one of the founding members of the Backyard Band, a go-go band, as well as appearing as gang member Slim Charles in the HBO series The Wire. He has also appeared in music videos, such as Boyz n da Hood's "Dem Boyz" among others, and has a...
as Slim Charles - David CostabileDavid CostabileDavid Costabile is an American actor. Born in Washington, D.C. He is best known for his recurring television roles on The Wire , Flight of the Conchords , Damages , and Breaking Bad...
as Thomas Klebanow - Sam FreedSam FreedSam Freed is an American actor who has performed on Broadway, television and in movies. His first major regular role on television was as Bob Barsky in the last three seasons of Kate & Allie. In the short-lived series Ferris Bueller, he played Bill Bueller, the father of the title character. He...
as James Whiting - Dion Graham as Rupert Bond
- Bruce Kirkpatrick as Roger Twigg
- Jay LandsmanJay LandsmanThe book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch on that show and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance...
as Dennis Mello - Edward NorrisEdward Norris-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as Ed Norris - Method ManMethod ManClifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...
as Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff - Joseph Urla as Maryland District US Attorney
- Gregory L. Williams as Michael Crutchfield
- William F. ZorziWilliam F. ZorziWilliam F. Zorzi is an American journalist and screenwriter. He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career. He has also written for the HBO television series The Wire.-Journalism:...
as Bill Zorzi - Bobby J.Brown as Bob Brown
- Benjamin BuschBenjamin BuschBenjamin B. Busch is an American actor, writer, film maker, photographer, and former United States Marine Corps officer. He is best known for his portrayal of Anthony Colicchio on the HBO original series The Wire.-Biography:...
as Anthony Colicchio - Rick Otto as Kenneth Dozerman
- Ryan Sands as Lloyd "Truck" Garrick
- Ron TuckerRon TuckerRonald Douglas "Ron" Tucker was an Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Western Australian National Football League .-Career:...
as Unknown - Thomas J. McCarthy as Tim Phelps
- Donald Neal as Jay Spry
- Robert Poletick as Steven Luxenberg
- Kara Quick as Rebecca Corbett
- Todd Scofield as Jeff Price
- Eisa Davis as Bubbles' Sister
- Gil Deeble as Hucklebuck
- Edward Green as Spider
- Dante Painter, Jr. as DeShawn
- Corbin Smith as Monell
- Peter Linari as Pete the Bartender
- Laura LippmanLaura LippmanLaura Lippman is an American author of detective fiction.-Biography:Lippmann was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the daughter of Theo Lippman Jr., a well known and respected writer at the Baltimore Sun, and Madeline Lippman, a retired school librarian for the...
as Laura Lippman - Michael OleskerMichael OleskerMichael Olesker was a columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland. He resigned on January 4, 2006, after it was alleged that his columns contained passages plagiarized from articles at other newspapers. Olesker is known for his liberal viewpoints and for his criticism of the...
as Michael Olesker - Gene Terinoni as Jimmy Asher
- Brandon Young as Mike Fletcher
- Lee Everett Cox as Aaron Castor
- Dennis Hill as Detective Christeson
- Juhahn Jones as Drug Dealer
- Brian E. McLarney as Officer Brian McLarney
- Jermaine Shorts as Unknown
- Jay Spadaro as Officer
Lee Everett Cox and David Costabile’s names are misspelled in the credits as Lee Evertt Cox and David Costible respectively.
Uncredited appearances
- Mike D. Anderson as Ghost
- Keenon Brice as Bug
- Darrell Britt Gibson as O-Dog
- Chris ClantonChris ClantonChris Clanton is an American actor. He has a recurring role as Savino Bratton in season 1 and 5 of The Wire. He is credited as Christopher J. Clanton in the fifth series. He also had an uncredited role in The Corner as a street kid...
as Savino Bratton - Thuliso DingwallThuliso DingwallThuliso Dingwall is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Kenard on the television series The Wire. Dingwall is from Clinton, Maryland.-External links:...
as Kenard
Homicide
Detective Bunk MorelandBunk Moreland
William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who...
extracts a confession from a suspect using manipulation and a mock polygraph test, tricking the suspect into thinking a photocopier is the polygraph machine. His reasoning gives the episode its epigraph "the bigger the lie, the more they believe."
Politics
Mayor Tommy CarcettiTommy Carcetti
Thomas J. "Tommy" Carcetti is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen. Carcetti is an ambitious Baltimore politician who rises from a seat on the city council to the office of the Mayor of Baltimore, and to the office of the Governor of Maryland by the...
's plan to rejuvenate the police department has been halted by funding cuts necessitated by the massive education deficit. Norman Wilson remains disappointed in Carcetti for refusing the governor's assistance for the schools and putting his ambition to unseat the governor before his responsibilities as mayor. Police commanders Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell
Ervin Burrell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Frankie Faison. Burrell was an officer in the Baltimore Police Department who ascended from Deputy Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show...
and William Rawls
William Rawls
William A. "Bill" Rawls is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor John Doman. Over the course of the series he ascends to the rank of Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.-Season 1:...
are forced to accept further funding cuts from Carcetti but convince him to lift the limits on secondary employment for police officers.
Mayor Carcetti and Council President Campbell meet with the Republican U.S. Attorney as a means of enlisting federal resources to help the Baltimore Police Department. Carcetti is told that as political corruption and counter-terrorism are the Justice Department's main investigative priorities, the U.S. Attorney's office will grant them a dozen FBI agents in exchange for corrupt state senator Clay Davis
Clay Davis
State Senator R. Clayton "Clay" Davis is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Davis is a corrupt Maryland State Senator with a reputation for pocketing bribes...
. In the discussion, Carcetti defends Baltimore City State's Attorney Rupert Bond's decision to keep the case local, as he fears the Republican attorney will use the case to damage the image of the Democratic Party. Campbell then criticizes Carcetti for upsetting the feds and as they discuss Clay Davis, Carcetti claims that Bond will charge most of the Royce
Clarence Royce
Clarence V. Royce is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Glynn Turman-Biography:Mayor of Baltimore Clarence V. Royce is a deft political figure and is fixated on remaining in power. Royce is the incumbent Mayor of Baltimore who was elected into office in 1998 and is in the...
administration, including Campbell, who herself sees Bond's motive to charge Davis as a means of one day running against her for mayor.
Major Crimes Unit
The Major Crimes Unit's year long investigation into the Stanfield OrganizationStanfield Organization
On the fictional television drama The Wire, the Stanfield Organization is a criminal organization led by Marlo Stanfield. The Organization is introduced in Season Three of The Wire as a growing and significantly violent drug syndicate...
and their involvement with the murders in the vacant houses has still not produced enough evidence to make arrests, but their continued observation has curtailed some of the criminals' activity. Marlo Stanfield
Marlo Stanfield
Marlo "Black" Stanfield is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Jamie Hector. Stanfield is a young, ruthless and ambitious player in the Baltimore drug trade who gains control of West Baltimore and is the head of his own drug crew.-Character background and plot...
continues to scheme despite noticing the continued surveillance. He is intimidating independent drug dealers into buying his narcotics, causing unrest in the New Day Co-Op
New Day Co-Op
The New Day Co-Op is a fictional criminal organization on the HBO drama television series The Wire. The New Day Co-Op, commonly referred to as the Co-Op, is a democratic alliance of drug dealers formed in the interests of promoting business and reducing violence. There are at least a dozen members...
about splitting up new territory, and has Chris Partlow working to find Sergei Malatov as a connection to the Co-Ops' suppliers.
The Unit is closed down as part of the cutbacks, effectively ending investigation of the murders that produced the 22 corpses found in vacant buildings. Colonel Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels
Cedric Daniels is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Lance Reddick. He is a well regarded officer in the department whose focus is on good police work and quality arrests...
convinces Carcetti to retain detectives Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon
Lester Freamon is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Clarke Peters. Freamon is a detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Major Crimes Unit...
and Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor
Leander Sydnor is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Corey Parker Robinson. Sydnor is a young, married Baltimore Police detective who was a member of the Barksdale detail and later worked in the Major Crimes Unit.-Season 1:...
to staff the Davis investigation.
McNulty
Detective Jimmy McNultyJimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
is outraged and despondent upon his return to the homicide unit. McNulty has begun drinking heavily and womanizing again and fails to return home to his domestic partner Beadie Russell
Beadie Russell
Beatrice "Beadie" Russell is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Amy Ryan. She was featured prominently in the second season, after she discovered thirteen corpses in a container on the Baltimore docks....
.
Western District
Morale is similarly low in the Western District because of pay cuts. Sergeant Ellis CarverEllis Carver
Ellis Carver is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Seth Gilliam. Carver is an African American lieutenant and formerly in command of the Baltimore Police Department's Western District Drug Enforcement Unit...
struggles to keep his men in line and drinks after work with his old partner Thomas "Herc" Hauk. Herc has been discharged from the department and is now using his contacts in the department as a defense investigator for Maurice Levy
Maurice Levy (The Wire)
Maurice "Maury" Levy is a fictional lawyer on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Michael Kostroff. He is a skilled defense attorney and was kept on retainer by the drug-trafficking Barksdale Organization, representing the organization's members at trials and advising Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell...
.
Michael
Michael LeeMichael Lee (The Wire)
Michael Lee is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by Tristan Wilds. He is a middle school pupil and is friends with Namond Brice, Randy Wagstaff and Duquan "Dukie" Weems. He is more soft-spoken than his friends, and appears to have a leadership role among his peers...
is acting as an enforcer under Partlow while his friend and cohabitant Duquan "Dukie" Weems runs their drug dealing crew. Dukie has not gained the respect of the crew and Michael suggests paying him for looking after his younger brother Bug instead.
The Baltimore Sun
In The Baltimore SunThe Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
newsroom similar funding cutbacks are affecting the reporters' morale and work. Editor Gus Haynes remains principled and efficient. His institutional memory allows his team to identify and break a story about city council president Nerese Campbell relocating known drug dealer Ricardo "Fat-face Rick" Hendrix’s strip club out of out a redeveloping neighborhood at a considerable cost to the city budget, and to link the plan to campaign contributions from Hendrix. Ambitious reporter Scott Templeton
Scott Templeton
M. Scott Templeton is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Thomas McCarthy. The actor joined the starring cast as the series' fifth season began.-Biography:...
remains dissatisfied while his colleague Alma Gutierrez
Alma Gutierrez
Alma M. Gutierrez is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Michelle Paress. Gutierrez is a dedicated and idealistic young reporter on the city desk of The Baltimore Sun.-Biography:...
is happy with her work.
Bubbles
BubblesBubbles (The Wire)
Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Andre Royo. Bubbles is a recovering heroin addict. His real name is not revealed until a fourth-season episode when he is called "Mr. Cousins" and in the fifth-season premiere when he is called "Reginald"...
is living in his sister's basement and no longer using drugs. However, he often must leave each evening as his sister (who regularly works the night shift) does not trust him enough to leave him alone in her house. He walks through the city while she's at work, trying to avoid the temptations of the street. Bubbles works as a rush hour distributor of The Baltimore Sun to commuters – he sells a copy to Campbell, who is outraged by the Fat-face Rick story.
First appearances
- Gus Haynes - a veteran of The Baltimore Sun and city desk editor,
- Scott TempletonScott TempletonM. Scott Templeton is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Thomas McCarthy. The actor joined the starring cast as the series' fifth season began.-Biography:...
- an ambitious and dissatisfied reporter, and - Alma GutierrezAlma GutierrezAlma M. Gutierrez is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actress Michelle Paress. Gutierrez is a dedicated and idealistic young reporter on the city desk of The Baltimore Sun.-Biography:...
- an enthusiastic young crime reporter. - James Whiting, the paper's Executive Editor
- Thomas Klebanow, - The paper's Managing Editor
- Steven Luxenberg, - The paper's Metro Desk Editor
- Tim Phelps, - The paper's State Desk Editor
- Jay Spry, - veteran re-write man
- Roger Twigg - long serving reporter
- Mike Fletcher. - young general assignments reporter