Here’s The Wire reunion from last night’s PaleyFest
Last night, much of the cast of The Wire and creator David Simon gathered for a reunion panel at New York’s PaleyFest, and—due to the institutionalized caste system in this country that keeps the common man in his place, requiring him to be in New York and actually have tickets—most people missed it. Fortunately, the whole thing was live-streamed and recorded by Yahoo, allowing even the people on the streets to get in on the game. That’s America, man.
For over an hour, HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall moderated a discussion that included Simon, executive producer Nina Noble, cast members Wendell Pierce (Bunk), Sonja Sohn (Kima), Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar), Seth Gilliam (Carver), Jim True-Frost (Prez), John Doman (Rawls), Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (D’Angelo), and Jamie Hector (Marlo), plus video messages from Dominic West (McNulty) and Idris Elba (Stringer), and special guest appearances in the crowd from Tristan Wilds (Michael), J.D. Williams (Bodie), Bob Wisdom (Colvin), and Michelle Paress (Alma). A few of the highlights:
– Williams was also confused by season two and the shift to the docks. “I got real bitter,” he said. “I was an angry black man. And I approached David, in my ignorance, you know—how come when we make the show hot, you want to give it to the white people?” When Simon explained that he was making the story much bigger than it would be if the show just stayed in the projects, Williams said, “That went way over my fucking head.” However, he eventually came around.
– Kima wasn’t supposed to live past the first season. Getting shot was supposed to be the end of her character, and it was only the intervention of an HBO executive that saved her. “Don’t be killing Kima,” he reportedly said. “Do you want a show?”