After nearly 25 years, the “cautionary” aspect of The Wire is no longer seen as a dire warning to society to star Wendell Pierce.
The Tony winner recently explained why the HBO show, which ran for five seasons from 2002 to ’08, does not warrant a reboot as the show’s societal themes are “demonstrated today” in real time.
“The Wire is something that is classic,” he told Collider. “What makes it classic [is] it speaks to, it spoke to the audience then, it speaks to us now, it will speak to audiences long after it’s over.”
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Explaining that the David Simon-created series about the police and drug dealers of Baltimore was “the cautionary tale that it was, the fact that it lets people know there’s an ugly side of human nature,” Pierce noted, “We’re seeing that demonstrated today.”
“I mean as we stand here on wonderful beautiful Hollywood Boulevard, they have American secret police who raided MacArthur Park today with guns drawn on citizens for no reason,” he said.
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“That’s a dangerous thing,” added Pierce. “That’s why The Wire is so poignant. It was a canary in the mine then and it’s a canary in the mine now. What kind of society do we want to be a part of?”
Pierce appeared in the acclaimed show’s ensemble as veteran homicide detective William ‘Bunk’ Moreland, starring throughout the five-season run.
