The Wire/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


This is a list of the major characters of The Wire. This list will contain spoilers.


Major Characters Introduced In Season One

Jimmy McNulty

What the fuck did I do?

The closest thing to a main character in The Wire. A detective in Homicide, he is an alcoholic womanizer, something of a deadbeat, insubordinate toward his supervisors, and known for coming up with creative solutions to hard cases. His disrespect for the chain of command makes him many enemies, while his self-destructive behavior alienates his peers and friends. He is reassigned to remote positions in the Baltimore police department a couple times over the course of the series, most notably in the second season when he's "put on the boat".

Keep in mind, he never actually receives a McCloud Speech to his face during the show (well, with the exception of Landsman's eulogy at his mock detective's wake), but other characters give descriptions of him that almost fit the trope.

Oooh, you need somethin' outside of this here.

Bunk: There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.

Cedric Daniels

Comes a day you're gonna have to decide whether it's about you or about the work.

Lieutenant in charge of the Narcotics Unit of the western district who spends most of the series in charge of the special details that would become the model for the Major Case Unit. He is fiercely loyal to those under his command and demands similar loyalty in turn. He works to rein in the excesses of McNulty, Herc, Carver, and Pryzbylewski, while resisting the bureaucratic rot that has corrupted the district command. There is only so much he can do, given his superiors' impatience for in-depth police work, and the existence of a dossier implicating him in past corruption that Ervin Burrell holds over his head.

He begins the series as a career-minded officer who is pliant to the demands of his superiors, but when he's confronted with the deeds and scale of the Barksdale drug crew, realizes the inefficacy of the limited investigative measures that his bosses will allow, and is pressured by McNulty, Greggs and Freamon to commit to the case, ultimately he jumps in with both feet. Daniels's renewed commitment to quality police work costs him much throughout the series (including his marriage), but in seasons 4 and 5, he receives a series of rapid promotions that ends with a gig as Police Commissioner. Daniels soon resigns after earning this top spot, since keeping the job would entail manipulating the crime statistics for the mayor, or a fight to keep the job which would put the lives and careers of his friends in jeopardy.

  • Bald Black Leader Guy
  • The Beard: A non-sexuality version, after he and his wife split up in the third season he keeps up the act of them still being married so as not to damage her public image while she's running for office, including pretending to come home when she has company over, and he explains that after all she gave up to help his career it's the least he can do.
  • Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word
  • Chekhov's Gun: His law degree. This is Truth in Television, as one of the detectives David Simon shadowed when writing Homicide, Terry McLarney, was a law school graduate. Another gun of a much higher caliber is the corruption investigation in his past.
  • Honor Before Reason: Several times, particularly toward the end of the series.
  • The Last DJ
  • Noodle Incident: The precise nature of the corruption allegation he faced earlier in his career is never revealed, though it is implied to have been something along the lines of skimming drug money.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure
  • Reassigned to Antarctica
  • The Stoic

Shakima "Kima" Greggs

I mean, I know you don’t like it. But shit, I was proud.

Detective in Narcotics. One of the more competent cops on the team, she does much work in surveillance and recruiting informants, particularly Bubbles. She is shot in the first season, but recovers and returns to duty in a desk job (under pressure from her girlfriend, who doesn't like Kima's dangerous job). Ultimately, Daniels lures her back into the fray and she eventually earns an assignment to Homicide. Beholden to her conscience and strong sense of ethics (which doesn't make her nice; while she'd never look the other way at a crime or lie to her superiors, she doesn't think twice about beating the crap out of a suspect), in the fifth season, she is the one who reports McNulty and Freamon's fake serial killer to Daniels.

  • Action Girl
  • All Lesbians Want Kids: Averted; Kima is much more interested in her career than in being a mom.
  • Babies Make Everything Better: Averted; Kima's girlfriend having a baby makes their relationship worse, and eventually contributes to their breakup. Kima does come to care for her son however.
  • Blood Knight: Though she doesn't fight, she doesn't find policework satisfying unless she has the chance to confront and bust criminals face-to-face.
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: The soft center comes out when children are involved.
  • Butch Lesbian: Personality-wise.
  • By-The-Book Cop: The closest thing to one on this show, as evidenced by her refusal to testify that she saw that Wee-Bey was the second gunman when she gets shot in Season 1 and her blowing the whistle on Freamon and McNulty in season 5; however, she still gets in on a little extracurricular brutality and other inappropriate conduct at times.
  • Cliff Hanger: Whether she'll survive after her shooting in season 1 is in doubt for awhile.
  • Henpecked Girlfriend: A consequence of being the masculine half of her relationship. Lampshaded by Herc.
  • Honor Before Reason: Arguably, her refusal to falsely testify that she knows for a fact that it was Wee-Bey who shot her.
  • The Ladette: She enjoys drinking, screwing, and busting heads as much as any of her male co-workers; conversely, she doesn't have much interest in "feminine" activities like shopping or homemaking.
  • Married to the Job: Her partner begins to resent her dedication to policework when it detracts from her willingness to be a parent to their child.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: The sting.
  • Twofer Token Minority: As a mixed black/Korean lesbian, she ought to count as a threefer, but in this case it's an aversion since the show realistically portrays the demographic makeup of Baltimore and she's not the only black, the only lesbian, or the only female detective around.

Bunk Moreland

A man must have a code.

Highly competent detective in Homicide. Bunk has a dry sense of humor, is almost always dressed in pinstripes, and enjoys his cigars. Bunk and McNulty often partner up to drink and cruise for women -- in spite of the fact that they are both married. As a detective, Bunk is generally perfectly happy to work within the confines of the system in Homicide. In the fifth season, his tolerance for McNulty's cowboy antics is put to the test when McNulty fakes several serial murders, which puts a deep strain on their friendship.

Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins

How y'all do what y'all do every day and not wanna get high?

A homeless heroin addict. He mentors Johnny Weeks from seasons 1-3, and Sherrod in season 4, teaching them the life of scheming and scrounging that's necessary to support a life on the streets. When Weeks is attacked by members of the Barksdale crew, Bubbles renews his duties a police informant, providing critical information to Greggs and McNulty. In season 4, Bubbs is repeatedly beaten and robbed by another drug addict, but as Kima and McNulty are no longer working drugs, Bubbs must settle for snitching for the considerably less reliable Herc, who twice fails to come to Bubbles's aid. Bubbles pays Herc back for his incompetence by feeding him bad information that gets him in some trouble with his superiors, but his plan for dealing with the robber backfires, resulting in Sherrod's death. He attempts to turn himself in, and attempts suicide, but is the recipient of an uncharacteristic bit of mercy from Jay Landsman.

By the fifth season, he has moved into his sister's basement, weaned himself off drugs, gotten a job selling papers, and begun attending Narcotics Anonymous. In the final montage of the series, he is finally allowed up into the house to have dinner with his family.

  • Anti-Hero: Type I
  • Blue Oni: To Johnny Weeks', and later Sherrod's, Red Oni. It keeps him alive while both of them end up dead.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Over the course of the series he endures as much hardship as any other character, and he's one of only a few "street" characters who doesn't die, go to prison, or get sucked into a dangerous lifestyle in the end.
  • Guile Hero: He manages to inform on various drug dealers for the better part of five seasons without ever being suspected of being a snitch, mostly because he's very clever in his information-gathering.
  • The Informant: Partially earns his living working as one for the BPD.
  • Interrupted Suicide: After Sherrod's death.
  • Mobile Kiosk: Starts telling t-shirts and other items from a shopping cart to support himself in season 3.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After Sherrod takes the "hot shot" Bubbles had prepared for his tormentor and dies.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is revealed only through incidental references to legal documents and the like; he's almost always called "Bubbles" or "Bubbs" in conversation.
  • Those Two Guys: With Johnny Weeks.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Until his happy ending.
  • Tropaholics Anonymous: Bubbles drifts in and out of various recovery programs and addiction support groups until he finally sobers up for good in season 5.

Thomas "Herc" Hauk

I say we go down to the terrace and fuck some people up.

One of Those Two Guys in Narcotics. Herc is probably the dumbest working detective on the show. To him, the job is all about the "rip and run" and banging heads on the corners (often literally). What little active detective work he does do often involves cutting corners (such as placing bugs and pulling a surveillance camera without proper authorization) or bumbling his way through ineffective interrogations. He's also not above stealing confiscated drug money. He is forced to resign in Season 4 after acting on bad information and wrongfully arresting an influential black minister. He kicks around various private security agencies before settling into Maurice Levy's firm as a private investigator, where his friendships within the department and dumb luck earn him a bright future.

  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Cowboy Cop: Like McNulty, a deconstruction; in his case of the "cut corners and rough up the suspects" variety.
  • The Ditz
  • Face Heel Turn: After taking a job as an investigator with Levy.
  • Jerkass
    • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his failings, when Internal Affairs descends on his department, he takes the fall himself, without implicating Sydnor or Dozerman.
  • The Load: At the beginning of the show he and Carver are far and away the least competent detectives among the major characters; Daniels only trusts them to do surveillance work and half the time they can't even manage that. Carver eventually gets better, Herc doesn't.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: More than once, but his interrogation of Little Kevin, in which he lets slip that Randy talked to the police and thereby ruins his life, is the worst.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: His Bronx accent sticks out like a sore thumb; he's finally acknowledged as originally from New York in season five.
  • Police Are Useless: You could fill several pages detailing his many screw-ups over the course of the show.
  • Police Brutality: Most of the cops on the show engage in at one point or another, but Herc deserves special mention - brutality complaints are one of the main reasons he's not promoted to sergeant despite scoring well on the exam.
  • Those Two Guys: With Carver.

Ellis Carver

I don't need to chase these fucking knuckleheads. I know half of 'em. Shit, I know where they hang.

The other of Those Two Guys in Narcotics. He starts out almost as stupid and corrupt as Herc, but begins to mature under the tutelage of Daniels, and later, Bunny Colvin. He is instrumental in keeping Hamsterdam running in Season 3. He tries to help out Randy Wagstaff, but makes the mistake of trusting Herc, out of guilt for maturing past his ex-partner. In one of the series' biggest Tear Jerkers, cannot keep him from the group home. Later, he is shown to regret the cavalier attitude towards policework that he and Herc had taken earlier in his career, and proves himself a competent commander with a strong sense of ethics. He is promoted to lieutenant in the finale, showing a strong resemblance to his early mentor, Daniels.

Lester Freamon

...and all the pieces matter.

Detective transferred in to Daniels' unit from the Pawnshop Unit. At first he keeps to himself, spending much of his time applying his meticulous nature to making miniature furniture instead of doing police work, causing McNulty and others to write him off as a worthless hump. After watching the other detectives fail to secure so much as a photograph of the detail's intended target, Freamon comes off the bench and shows himself to be true "natural police" (in fact, he is a former Homicide detective), proving himself knowledgeable and adept at many of aspects of running a wiretap investigation (including an understanding of the legal and political nuances that even the other competent detectives lack), and serves as a mentor to Kima, Prez and Sydnor.

He is almost as insistent as (and at times, MORE insistent than) McNulty when it comes to pressing an investigation beyond what the department brass has tolerance for, but has more wisdom about how and when to fight for a case. While he's not above crossing his superiors and manipulating his coworkers, and goes along with Jimmy's 5th season serial killer scheme, he still lacks Jimmy's more self-destructive tendencies.

and 4 months

Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski

You juke the stats, and majors become colonels.

Roland begins the series as dead weight that's dumped on the Barksdale detail from Auto, who only still has a career in the department thanks to the aid of his father-in-law, Major Stanislaus Valcheck. Prez is unhappy in his job and has a hard time keeping his head while in the street. Early in the series he accompanies Herc and Carver on an ill-conceived recon mission in the high-rise projects, where he pistol-whips a youth (which results in permanent blindness in one eye for the kid). Daniels coaches Prez on how to answer IID's questions, and he is removed from street duty.

While indoors, he takes to Freamon's wiretapping, showing a real knack for codebreaking, deciphering the street talk through the tinny audio of the wiretap, following the paper trail and organizing the accumulated info on their targets. In the third season, when responding to a distress call while out making a food run, he accidentally shoots a plainclothes officer, and resigns. He becomes a middle school teacher in season four, helping out Randy and Dukie as best he can.

William Rawls

You, McNulty, are a gaping asshole.

An intelligent, hardass police commander and bureaucrat, once described by a fellow police commander as being "as ruthless a fuck as we have in this department." He begins the series as a major in charge of the Homicide department, and over the course of the series enjoys promotions to colonel, deputy commissioner, commissioner and state police superintendent. Rawls achieves this by mainly by doing everything in his power to produce good stats (murder clearances, lower crime rates, etc) -- though what looks good on paper doesn't necessarily shine so bright in reality. For example Rawls is not above making an arrest that has no real prayer of producing a conviction, even though it means severely compromising a major investigation -- all to make the crime stats look better on paper. While serving as a colonel and deputy commissioner, he applies severe pressure on subordinate officers, much of which is quite deserved, that causes most of his colleagues to "juke the stats" by reclassifying crimes (felonies are downgraded to misdemeanors, etc) -- a practice that he strongly encourages without actually being explicit about it.

Rawls has no patience for insubordination, or anything that might threaten his stats. As a result, McNulty makes himself an enemy of Rawls, who orders another cop to spy on him (in an attempt to get him fired), kicks him out of homicide and blocks his transfer to another, more desirable unit that could put McNulty's skill as a detective to work. Still, there are limits to Rawls' animosity towards McNulty; when McNulty feels responsible for another cop getting shot, Rawls steps in to assure him that his guilt is misplaced.

  • Ambiguously Gay: Appears in the background in a scene at a gay club, among other hints. Confirmed by Word of God.
    • "Rawls Sucks Cock"
  • Bad Boss: He's not particularly helpful to his underlings at the police department.
  • Da Chief
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Heel Face Turn: A subtle one. For most of the first season it seems he's nothing more than a Bad Boss with somewhat of a personal grudge against McNulty. After Kima gets shot and he comforts McNulty (in his own particular way) he appears less of an outright Jerkass. From that episode throughout the subsequent seasons, we see a lighter side of him much more often.
  • Jerkass
  • Pet the Dog: His speech to McNulty where he tells him that Kima getting shot wasn't his fault. Done with Rawls' usual bluntness, of course.
  • Invisible to Gaydar: If he's in the closet, then he's a rare television non-armored closet case, as there's no obviously-false-front of homophobia or womanizing. Truth in Television since there are a lot of gay cops in real life whose sexuality is basically a non-issue in their professional lives.
  • Word of Gay: His sexual orientation is strongly hinted at in the show, but David Simon has confirmed it in interviews.

Ervin Burrell

It's Baltimore, gentlemen. The gods will not save you.

Deputy commissioner (later, commissioner). Burrell is a career-minded officer, more skilled at playing politics than actual police administration. He proves to be a major roadblock time and again for Daniels' unit, which has a tendency to run investigations that could implicate Burrell's politically connected friends. Eventually, when Carcetti is elected mayor, his fixing of crime statistics gets him forced to retire, though he is savvy enough to make sure he gets a golden parachute.

Rhonda Pearlman

Your client walks away now, or the both of you don't walk at all.

Assistant State's Attorney. She handles the cases brought in by Daniels' department. Rhonda tries to walk a fine line between bringing in quality casework and protecting/advancing her own career, and a few times gets blindsided by Lester (and his tendency to issue subpoenas against politically connected individuals, like her boss) and Jimmy (who browbeats Maurice Levy in defiance of the professional deference that Rhonda wishes to show him). She had an affair with McNulty, which is what caused his marriage to end, though by the start of the series, the romance has cooled off. Later in the series, she starts up a relationship with Cedric Daniels after he and his wife separate, which is still ongoing as of the series finale.

  • Hello, Attorney!
  • Heroes Want Redheads: McNulty, Daniels and Judge Phelan certainly do.
  • Matzo Fever: Provokes this reaction frequently, though her Jewishness is never especially emphasized.
  • Show Some Leg: She uses Judge Phelan's attraction to her to get favorable rulings out of him a few times.
  • Where Da White Women At?: She and Daniels must initially keep their relationship a secret because it becoming known that Daniels was divorcing his wife Marla and dating a white woman instead would harm Marla's political career.
  • Working with the Ex: She and McNulty carried on an affair prior to the events of the show, which causes some awkwardness in their professional relationship.

Jay Landsman

It's all about self-preservation, Jimmy. Something you never learned.

Sergeant in Homicide who enjoys his pornography and food. Like Rawls, he has little patience for anything that threatens his squad's clearance rate, and spends much of his time belittling McNulty. While he appears aloof, he truly does care about his subordinates, and he demonstrates when he lobbies Rawls on McNulty's behalf (although this partially comes from Jay's desire to keep the clearances that Jimmy brings in) and when he gives wakes to fallen officers.

  • A Father to His Men: The above mentioned wakes.
  • Big Eater
  • The Danza: Averted. The real Jay Landsman plays Lt. Mello.
  • Deadpan Snarker: At times.
  • Dirty Old Man: Not particularly old, but middle-aged and definitely unattractive.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though he is often overbearing and obnoxious to his subordinates, he genuinely does care about them and attempt to protect them whenever the homicide unit comes under attack.
  • Name's the Same: He's emphatically not based upon the real-life Jay Landsman, who plays Lt. Mello.
  • Porn Stash: More often than not seen reading a girlie mag.

Avon Barksdale

I'm just a gangster, I suppose.

West-side drug kingpin, head of the eponymous Barksdale Organization. A vengeful but calculating gangster, he is very much concerned with his reputation for toughness. He starts the show at the peak of his influence, outwitting police surveillance until he is eventually caught by a hidden camera. Influential even in prison, he attempts to run his criminal empire while behind bars, but Stringer ends up making a couple major decisions behind Avon's back. He manages to orchestrate a scheme that gets him early parole (serving only a couple years of his seven year sentence), but when he's released, he finds that much of his best territory is in the hands of a rival drug crew. Against Stringer's advice, he starts a war with the rival Stanfield gang, which leads to Stringer betraying him by giving a tip to the cops. When the police catch him in a safehouse full of weapons, he is arrested and forced to serve out the remainder of his previous sentence with no hope of parole. Afterward, the Barksdale Organization is gone, but he manages to retain some of his influence in prison.

  • Batman Gambit: In season 2, he ensures his early release from prison by orchestrating a mass poisoning at the prison, then offering to testify against the "culprit".
  • Big Bad: For season 1
  • Blood Knight: "I bleed red, you bleed green."
  • Demoted to Extra: After season 3.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He may be a bloodthirsty kingpin with no compunctions about killing people who threaten his profits, but even so he's appalled by Stringer's decision to order a hit on Omar while the latter is escorting his elderly grandmother to church on Sunday morning.
  • Kingpin in His Gym: In one scene in the first season, he and Stringer are seen playing basketball in a gym.
  • Manipulative Bastard
  • Might as Well Not Be in Prison At All: He's sent away to prison in season 2, but manages to maintain control of his business, take over the supply of drugs flowing into the prison, and spend his free time playing video games and eating KFC.
  • Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters: He sponsors a local charity basketball game, among other community activities.
  • Pet the Dog: His interactions with Cutty in season 3.
  • Sympathetic POV
  • Worthy Opponent: Comes to view Marlo Stanfield as one after being repeatedly surprised by his ruthlessness.

Russell "Stringer" Bell

Nigger, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?

Second in command to Avon Barksdale. Seeing himself as analytical and precise, he takes economics and business classes in hope of legitimizing the Barksdale Organization through real estate, a stance that eventually alienates him from Avon. He is not arrested when Avon and D'Angelo get hauled off at the end of Season 1, and becomes effective head of the organization. Immediately, he must deal with encroachment from Proposition Joe's crew, and becomes suspicious of D'Angelo and has him assassinated. When his redevelopment plans take longer than expected, he bribes state senator Clay Davis to get the proper permits, but is rainmade by him instead. Soon afterwards, he is assassinated by Omar Little and Brother Mouzone.

D'Angelo Barksdale

It ain't like that. See, the king stay the king, a'ight? Everything stay who he is. Except for the pawns. Now, if the pawn make it all the way down to the other dude's side, he get to be queen. And like I said, the queen ain't no bitch. She got all the moves.

Lieutenant in the Barksdale Organization, and nephew of Avon. He is acquitted for murder in the premiere episode, by means of witness tampering. In charge of the low rise projects, and the dealers Poot, Bodie, and Wallace, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the drug game. When Wallace wants to leave the game, he is supportive, which places him under the suspicion of Stringer Bell. The news of Wallace's murder turns him against the organization, and he begins the process of becoming a witness against the Barksdale organization, but is convinced by his mother to keep quiet and serve the years for the sake of his family.

In prison, D'Angelo is distances himself from his family and seems to want little more than to be left alone so he can do his time in peace. Avon tries to insert himself into D'Angelo's life, offering to make him a part of the scheme which results in Avon's early release, but D'Angelo doesn't bite, not wanting to be party to the harm his family does, nor wishing to be beholden to them. Meanwhile, Stringer still fears that D'Angelo may turn on the organization, and has an additional motive for wanting D'Angelo out of the picture in the form of his romance with D'Angelo's girlfriend, Donette. Stringer arranges to have D'Angelo murdered (without Avon's knowledge), which is made to look like a suicide.

  • Anti-Heroic BSOD: After Wallace's death.
  • Anti-Villain: On the darker side of a type IV, but still a type IV.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: "Where's Wallace?!?!?"
  • Chess Motifs: In a memorable early scene he explains the game to Bodie and Wallace; this scene receives a Call Back much later in the series when Bodie realizes that street-level dealers like him are nothing more than pawns in the drug game and are expendable to the higher-ups.
  • Decoy Protagonist: Seems like the main character during the street settings. Then he surprisingly gets killed off in prison.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Wallace's death, which shakes his belief in the whole system of "family" that he's been taught to rely on. In the following season, his general apathy and the fact that he's actively avoiding associating with Avon makes it that much easier to pass of his assassination as a suicide.
  • Deuteragonist: In season 1 the workings of the Barksdale gang are seen mostly through his eyes.
  • Guilt Ridden Accomplice
  • Lying to the Perp: In the pilot Bunk and McNulty trick him into writing a letter of apology to the non-existent family of a Barksdale clan murder victim; this later causes him to refuse to believe it initially when he's told that Wallace has been murdered.
  • Never Suicide: McNulty thinks so, and he's right.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: After returning from prison he's demoted to overseeing dealing in the Pit.
  • The Reveal: Early on D'Angelo claims to have been the killer in the murder of a former girlfriend of Avon's who had agreed to cooperate with the police; it is revealed that while D'Angelo did take part in the murder by providing a distraction, it was Wee-Bey who actually pulled the trigger.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: Used and abused, but eventually subverted.
  • Sympathetic Adulterer: Cheats on his girlfriend Donette with Shardene in season 1, but Donette being revealed to be a rather unpleasant person who in turn cheats on him with Stringer while D'Angelo is in prison in season 2 it is portrayed sympathetically.
  • Sympathetic Criminal: Most of the criminals on the show receive at least some sympathy, but D'Angelo in particular stands out.
  • White Sheep: Played with. While he's not exactly an angel, D'Angelo does not share the ruthless, cold-blooded nature of his uncle and his mother, which causes friction among them since the family business often requires cold-blooded ruthlessness.

Brianna Barksdale

Avon's sister, and a quiet partner in the family's drug operation. She is the mother of D'Angelo and attempts to protect and promote his interests within the organization though ultimately she fails to save him when Stringer begins to doubt his loyalty. Later, after Avon is sent to prison and Stringer killed, she takes over as the leader of the organization.

Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice

Look at me up in here. Who the fuck would wanna be that if they can be anything else, De'Londa?

The Barksdale Organization's most trusted soldier. We see him assassinate a state's witness and murder Omar Little's boyfriend Brandon, as well as several untrustworthy members of the organization, and let a stripper die from an overdose. He is caught, sentenced to life in prison, and takes the fall for many of the organization's murders. While on the inside, he remains a trusted friend and confidant to Avon. He does not wish his son, Namond, to go the same route, and lets Howard Colvin adopt him in Season 4.

  • Affably Evil: Wee-Bey is very friendly and quite personable. But he's STILL a ruthless killer and the best soldier the Barksdale Organization ever had.
  • The Brute: Serves this role for the Barksdale organization, though he's an unusually friendly example.
  • Demoted to Extra: After he's sent to prison.
  • Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Unlike his wife, he doesn't want his son Namond to follow in his footsteps, and allows Bunny Colvin to adopt him as a result. See the page quote above.
  • Hidden Depths: See the above quote.
  • Pet the Dog: He keeps a tank full of tropical fish, of which he takes excellent care, in his apartment.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Even his own wife calls him "Bey".
  • Taking the Heat: When he's arrested, he attempts to spring the Barksdale organization's other enforcers by pleading guilty to every murder the crew had committed.
  • Xanatos Gambit: When he is caught for a murder, he gets the DA to agree to take the death penalty off the table, then confesses to every murder the Barksdales had committed.

Preston "Bodie" Broadus

We like them bald-headed bitches on the chessboard.

Drug dealer in the low rises. Bodie fully buys into the mystique and glamor of gangsta lifestyle, believing that as a loyal, competent, ambitious soldier, he can eventually rise up through the ranks of his world and become a kingpin like Stringer and Avon. He does indeed catch Stringer's eye and is promoted to a mid-level position, but is also meets with a fair amount of rebuke due to his gangster mentality and his propensity to deal with problems through violence -- qualities that Stringer sees little value in. Once the Barksdale organization disbands, he struggles as an independent dealer, and manages to build up a quiet corner into a decent piece of real estate (at least, if you're a drug dealer) but is muscled off the corner by the Stanfield crew, and is ultimately forced to become a part of that organization. Ultimately, Bodie is disillusioned by the casual, often excessive violence perpetrated by the Stanfield gang and looks to turn informant when one of his friends is murdered by the organization. However, he is spotted with McNulty, and is killed, though he goes out fighting on his corner.

  • Even Evil Has Standards: He's an unrepentant drug dealer willing to kill as part of his job, but even so he's disgusted by Marlo's callousness and brutality. When he sees the bodies of Marlo's victims being pulled out of the vacant houses, he just loses it.

"FUCK Marlo, man, FUCK him! And anybody that thinks it's alright to do people this way!"

Malik "Poot" Carr

World going one way, people another.

A drug dealer in the low rises who is obsessed with women -- an obsession that results in many trips down to the clinic for treatments for various venereal diseases. He serves Bodie well when the latter is promoted, and stays loyal to him even after the disintegration of the Barksdale organization, up until the attack on their corner, when he flees for his life. We see him in the fifth season, having left the game, working in a shoe store.

Wallace

Cuz' this shit. This is me, yo. Right here.

Drug dealer in the low rises. He takes care of the younger members of the drug crew he's not dealing. Leads Stringer Bell to Brandon, but feels guilty afterwards and starts snorting heroin. He is arrested and agrees to inform; he is sent to his grandmother's for protection, but returns to Baltimore and is slain by Bodie and Poot.

Omar Little

Don't get it twisted, I do some dirt, too, but I ain't never put my gun on nobody who wasn't in the game.

Robber who targets drug dealers. Omar is successful in this dangerous trade because he not only has the fearlessness that the job requires, but is also a meticulous planner, an effective leader, and is willing to devote long hours of surveillance work that even many cops would balk at, and by cultivating a reputation that discourages most of his victims from even thinking about putting up a fight.

He starts a war with the Barksdale Organization when his boyfriend, Brandon, is tortured and killed. Occasionally he is manipulated into taking up jobs that serve the interests of Proposition Joe, but Omar eventually earns a payday at Joe's expense. Even still, Joe is willing to let sleeping dogs lie (and even buys some of his stolen product back from Omar at a discount price) out of respect for Omar's lethality. While Omar adheres to a strict code (he refuses to ever pull his gun on a "civilian" -- someone not involved in the drug trade), unlike most criminals, he is willing to act as an informant for the police if it serves his interests (such as getting revenge on the drug crew that savagely murdered his boyfriend). His luck finally runs out in Season 5; after his contact, Butchie, is killed, he wars with the Stanfield Organization and is murdered by Kenard.

Omar's exploits never fail to entertain.

Brandon Wright

I'm the king of this shit.

Omar's boyfriend and fellow thief. Drives the white van that their crew use for recon in season one. After the crew robs a Barksdale stash house, he is spotted by Wallace and captured, tortured and killed by Stringer Bell's crew, but he does not give Omar up.

"Proposition" Joe Stewart

Got a proposition for ya.

East-side drug kingpin. Has a mellow temperament. Dislikes common squabbling and turf wars (and the ensuing police attention), preferring instead to arrange alliances and cut deals between rival gangs. His group is the first to fill the vacuum left by the disruption of the Barksdale Organization in Season 2, chipping away at their territory and influence. An alliance between the two groups, the New Day Co-Op, is eventually formed. He keeps Stringer Bell powerless and under his control, but he can't contain the ascendant Marlo Stanfield, nor his mercenary-in-all-but-name, Omar Little. He is murdered by Chris Partlow as he is packing his bags to flee Baltimore.

Don't believe we've met; Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, I'll kill your whole family.

  • Batman Gambit: To try and persuade Marlo of the security benefits of the Co-Op, he gets Omar to rob the poker game Marlo attends to show Marlo how he needs the extra security. This backfires by setting in motion a chain of events leading to Joe's downfall and death.
  • Brief Accent Imitation: He uses three different accents during the course of one phone call to the BPD while trying to gather information on Herc.
  • Catch Phrase: "I've got a proposition for you."
  • The Chessmaster
  • Deal with the Devil: Faced with an incursion of New York drug dealers into the East Side in Season 4, he turns to Marlo to get rid of them. This does not end well.
  • Face Death with Dignity
  • Killed Off for Real
  • Pragmatic Villainy: He prefers to avoid violence and confrontation when he can, as it's bad for business. Unfortunately for him, he's not able to convert his protege Marlo Stanfield to this viewpoint.
  • Sophisticated As Hell: He frequently speaks like this.

Leander Sydnor

Torn cammies by Versace, stained sweatshirt by Ralph Lauren. Haven't showered in two days, haven't shaved in four. I am one ripe, nasty son-of-a-bitch.

Young detective assigned to Daniels' unit early on. Does surveillance and undercover work alongside Greggs and Bubbles. He agrees to help Freamon work his illegal wiretap in season 5, and in the finale, is shown going to Judge Phelan to get a case worked on, demonstrating his willingness to disregard the rules and chain-of-command to bring in a good case.

  • The Generic Guy: Probably the least distinctive and well-developed among the police of the cast.
  • History Repeats: In the finale, he asks Judge Phelan to help him circumvent the rules to advance a case in a way that closely echoes a similar scene featuring McNulty in season 1.
  • Out of Focus: Even when he is around, he gets less screen time and character development than most of the other cops.
  • Put on a Bus: For pretty much all of season 2. Lampshaded when Sydnor reminds the other detectives that he doesn't remember the details of the port case because he didn't work it with them.

Maurice Levy

Maurice Levy: You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off...

Omar Little: Just like you, man.

Maurice Levy: ...the culture of drugs. Excuse me? What?

Drug lawyer for the Barksdale organization, and later, Marlo Stanfield. Very good at his job, getting cases scuttled and sentences reduced for his clients. Most Definitely Not A Jewish Stereotype.

  • Amoral Attorney
  • Evil Genius: Functions as this for the Barksdale and Stanfield crews, helping them set up fronts and side businesses to hide their activities from the police and evade prosecution.
  • Greedy Jew: At one point he gleefully remarks that he likes seeing his clients busted by the cops, because it means more billable hours for him.
  • Karma Houdini: Although thanks to Freamon's work Pearlman does hold a sword over his head in the form of evidence with which she can charge him with grand jury tampering.
  • Psychotic Smirk
  • Smug Snake
  • Yiddish as a Second Language

R. Clayton "Clay" Davis

Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.

Maryland state senator. Corrupt doesn't begin to describe him. He takes bribes from many sources, including the Barksdale organization under Stringer Bell, and does patronage and fundraising in return, when he doesn't simply fleece them. Two simultaneous investigations, one by the Major Crimes department of the Baltimore Police, the other by the FBI, are focused on him. Neither succeeds in bringing him down.

Stanislaus Valchek

You want to do it your way, fine. But you ain't gonna use my people to fuck me.

Commander of the Southeastern district. Father-in-law of Pryzbylewski, he uses his connections to get him out of trouble several times. Gets into a feud with Frank Sobotka over a stained glass window, leading to the theft of a security van by dockworkers, and an investigation into the stevedore's union's finances that brings them down. Later, he becomes a supporter of Carcetti.

Johnny Weeks

I'm brown.

A homeless addict, taken under the wing of Bubbles. A counterfeiting operation brings down the wrath of Bodie and Poot, leaving him in the hospital, where he learns he has HIV. Bubbles' informing the police produces a rift between the two, and Weeks leaves and goes to Hamsterdam. He is found dead by overdose some time later.

Major Characters Introduced In Season Two

Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos

They have my name. But my name is not my name.

The Greek's soft-spoken right hand man who oversees his operations in Baltimore, which most notably includes acting as the wholesaler who supplies Prop Joe with drugs. He takes a liking to Nick Sobotka, facilitating the young man's descent into a life of crime.

  • Affably Evil
  • The Dragon: To The Greek.
  • Evil Mentor: To Nick Sobotka.
  • Fake Nationality: Spiros' actual nationality is unknown, but he's not American. Paul Ben-Victor, the actor who plays him, is.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Evil, clearly; he rarely appears without a cigarette in his hand.
  • I Have Many Names: As he says himself, "many names, many passports".
  • Karma Houdini: Along with his boss, he escapes punishment entirely.
  • Number Two
  • Pragmatic Villainy: He prefers to avoid violence if he can, not out of moral conviction but because it tends to make a mess and draw attention from the police. When it becomes necessary, he is perfectly willing to cut a throat or two, as Frank Sobotka learns.

Beatrice "Beadie" Russell

What they need is a union.

Officer for the Port Authority and single mother of two. She discovers thirteen dead women in a shipping container, kicking off the events of Season 2. While at first she treats the job as little more than a paycheck, as the investigation progresses she develops a knack for policework and becomes invested in the case. She reappears late in season 3, when she and McNulty begin a romance, though Jimmy's behavior in season 5 tests Beadie's patience.

  • Action Mom: Eventually.
  • Demoted to Extra: After season 2.
  • Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: She initially views working as a port cop as a good gig because the pay is decent and it doesn't involve much actual policework, though she proves pretty good at the latter when major criminal activity does start happening at the port.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She gets together with McNulty after he stops drinking and gets his act together, but their relationship is strained when he falls off the wagon in season 5.
  • Took a Level in Badass: When she's introduced at the beginning of season 2, she doesn't take her job very seriously. By the end of the season she's developed into "real police".

Frank Sobotka

You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket.

Treasurer for the stevedore's union in Baltimore. Needing to keep his workers paid in the face of declining port traffic and the juggernaut of gentrification, he arranges to lobby and bribe local politicians in exchange for projects to keep the docks alive. He gets the money by an arrangement with The Greek, who uses the port for smuggling. He runs afoul of Major Valchek, who starts investigating into his finances. Things start unraveling when thirteen dead prostitutes are found in a shipping container, and he has to deal with both the police and The Greek. When his son, Ziggy, murders the Greek's fence, and the plans for expanding the docks collapse, he agrees to inform on The Greek to the police. The Greek gets word of this, and has him killed.

Nick Sobotka

I don't know how to tell you this without hurting you deeply, but first of all, you happen to be white.

Nephew of Frank Sobotka and cousin of Ziggy. He acts as a go-between for his uncle towards Vondas, often bringing Ziggy along. Seeking a steady income so he can support his girlfriend, he makes an arrangement with The Greek to obtain chemicals used for drug processing. He is paid in heroin, which he sells to local dealers in lieu of Ziggy. The police catch on and send out a warrant for his arrest, and he turns himself in after Frank's murder. In exchange for identifying The Greek, he is sent into the witness protection program.

He is seen briefly in Season 5, jeering the opening of the Granary condominiums.

Ziggy Sobotka

Let me show you old gents some bulk cargo that none of you could ever handle. Who says they don't make 'em like they used to?

Son of Frank Sobotka. He is stupid and impulsive, failing at both legitimate work in the docks, as well as drug dealing. He convinces his cousin Nick to make a deal with The Greek to sell drugs. Nick's success where he failed sends him into a depression, which drives him to kill one of The Greeks' frontmen when a deal goes sour. He is apprehended and sent to prison. Both the police and the Greek try to use Ziggy's situation to apply leverage to Frank and Nick.

"The Greek"

Business. Always business.

Head of a smuggling operation running out of the Port of Baltimore, specializing in drugs, prostitues, and stolen goods. Tends to hide in plain sight, sitting at the bar while his Number Two ostensibly takes care of business. He is the main supplier for Proposition Joe, and later, Marlo Stanfield. The port investigation almost manages to arrest him, but a tip from an agent within the Department of Homeland Security (which the Greek is an informant for) gives him the time needed to shut down operations and flee the country, along with Vondas. No relationship, as far as we know, to "The Greek's", the restaurant in season one, where Brandon Wright played pinball.

The police just know him as "The Greek", and he's not even Greek.

  • Big Bad: For season 2. Given his return in season 4, arguably for the whole series as well.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • Devil in Plain Sight: Everyone who meets with Spiros wonders who his mysterious boss is, with relatively few people ever figuring out that he's the quiet elderly gentleman who sits at the counter drinking coffee while Spiros does the talking.
  • The Don
  • Evilly Affable
  • Fake Nationality: He's not actually Greek, but he's clearly foreign; the actor who plays him, Bill Raymond, is American.
  • Karma Houdini: Thanks to a tip from his FBI connection, he and his Number Two manage to flee just before the police arrive to arrest them, and while the remaining members of his organization are arrested or killed and his smuggling, drug-running, and prostitution activities are shut down temporarily, he's able to resume business as usual in season 5.
  • The Man Behind the Man
  • Mistaken Nationality
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Even Spiros only ever refers to him as "The Greek". His real name is never revealed.
  • The Spook

Sergei Malatov

Did he have hands? Did he have a face? Yes? Then it wasn't us.

A Ukrainian (not Russian) who serves as a driver and enforcer for the Greek's organization. He's first seen waiting in a truck for the shipping container in which the dead girls are later found, and after committing several brutal crimes becomes a primary target of the police's investigation as season two goes on. When the combined police/FBI operation moves on the Greek's operation, he is arrested. He later agrees to inform on the Greek, but by this time his former boss has already escaped. In season 5, he makes a brief reappearance in prison, in which he facilitates a connection between the Stanfield gang and the Greek's organization.

Howard "Bunny" Colvin

There's never been a paper bag for drugs. Until now.

Major in command of the Western District. He is respectful towards his subordinates. Sick of seeing so much death related to the drug game, he comes up with the "Hamsterdam" free-zone experiment in Season 3. Forced into retirement because of it, he goes on to try to rehabilitate delinquent middle school children and keep them from joining gangs. He find success in Namond Brice, whom he adopts.

"I thought I might legalize drugs."

  • Save Our Students: Makes this his goal once he takes a job doing research work with the troubled "corner kids" at the school in season 4. He has some success.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: In season 3, he goes against police department policy and essentially legalizes drugs in his district because he believes it will reduce the amount of violent crime and make it easier for social services to reach out to addicts, and thus accomplish what he views as the ultimate goal of policework - making people safer. It works, but only for awhile.

Blind Butchie

Conscience do cost.

A bar owner and quiet drug dealer who serves bank and go-between for Omar Little. Legally blind. He is tortured and killed by Chris Partlow and Snoop in Season 5, to draw Omar out of hiding. It works.

Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff

There ain't no back in the day, nigga. Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here. There's just the street, and the game, and what happen here, today.

Co-op lieutenant. Has gotten to where he is by virtue of being Proposition Joe's nephew, though Cheese's mercenary nature overrides any blood loyalty he might have to Joe. He defects to Stanfield's crew after selling out both Omar Little and Proposition Joe, and is later murdered by Slim Charles. Word of God is that he is Randy Wagstaff's biological father, though the two never come in contact with each other.

Brother Mouzone

Let me be emphatic: You need to take your black ass across Charles Street where it belongs.

Gunman hired by Avon Barksdale to intimidate rival dealers working for Proposition Joe. Set up by Stringer Bell to preserve his alliance with Prop Joe, he is attacked by Omar Little, who believes him to be the one who tortured Brandon. After proving his innocence, he leaves for New York and returns in the next season to find Omar, and they team up to take down Stringer Bell.

While not stated outright, his manner and dress suggests that he is a member of the Nation Of Islam.

Dante

Just you and me, then. Like we was.

Omar's new boyfriend, whom he meets sometime in the year after Brandon's murder. He joins his stick-up operation, but is shown to have a problem with jealousy, and there is a noticeable rift between him and Omar's other associates, which worsens when he accidentally shoots Tosha during a failed raid. Kidnapped and beaten in season three, he sells Omar out to Brother Mouzone (unlike Brandon, who endured much more without caving). It is heavily implied that this is why he and Omar part ways, as he is not seen again after this.

Kimmy and Tosha

I'm in it for the money. There's easier out there than that.

The other two members of Omar's crew, whom he picks up in season two. There is a substantial rift between these two and Dante, as Dante is openly jealous of their relationship with Omar; made worse when Dante accidentally shoots Tosha during a failed raid. Kimmy blames Omar for putting them in the situation in the first place, eventually leaving the crew because his obsession with the Barksdale gang has become too risky. Kimmy apparently later forgives Omar -- or at least, tolerates him well enough to participate in the theft of Prop Joe's heroin resupply at the end of season 4.

Major Characters Introduced In Season Three

Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti

Yummy, my first bowl of shit.

City Councilman. He dreams of supplanting the current mayor, Royce, and cleaning up Baltimore. He gets his chance with the rise in violent crime, and when a key witness is killed due to the lack of proper witness protection. When Hamsterdam is exposed, he starts campaigning in earnest, pulling off an upset and becoming mayor. Once in office, with his advisors Norman and Steintorf, he seeks out people he can trust within city government, particularly the police force. Promising a reduction in crime, he is undermined by the revelation that financial legerdemain had been used to to hide a massive deficit in the school budget. Deciding not to seek the Maryland governor's help in bailing out the schools, he takes the money from the police force instead. He is unable to fulfill most of the promises he made to his allies and constituents, but manages to get elected governor by attacking his Republican opponent's positions on homeless and the poor, which works as a high-profile issue due to McNulty's fake serial killer.

  • Ambition Is Evil: Played with. When forced to choose between helping the city he was elected to save and his own political ambitions, he chooses the latter, by deciding not to take money to cover the city's budget deficit from the state because doing so will hurt his chances of being elected governor. However, the series makes the argument that it is the political system which corrupts politicians rather than the other way around.
  • Big Good: At first he's set up as possibly being this, but it's ultimately subverted.
  • Establishing Character Moment: In the end of the third episode in which he appears Carcetti committs adultery with an unnamed woman he meets at a political event, staring at himself in the mirror as he does so. Though it seems at the time to be a throwaway scene, it actually serves to highlight Carcetti's narcissism and willingness to break promises for personal gain, both character traits which play a role in his later tenure as mayor. The scene actually receives a Call Back in season five, when Carcetti watches news coverage of himself making a grandstanding political speech with a similarly rapturous expression on his face.
  • Face Heel Turn: Mildly and realistically so. He doesn't so much go from good to evil as go from an idealistic crusader to just another self-interested politician.
  • Fake Nationality: An Italian-American played by Irish actor Aidan Gillen.
  • He Who Fights Monsters
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: He bears some resemblances to real-life former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley, though Simon has said the character was based on a number of Baltimore politicians, most of whom are too obscure to be recognizable to viewers.
  • Pet the Dog: On an epic scale during his Baltimore cleaning spree.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: At first.
  • Rousing Speech: He gives a few of them, usually of the self-serving variety.
  • Sir Swearsalot: While everyone except Omar swears a lot in this show, Tommy is particularly foul-mouthed.
  • Sleazy Politician: Eventually turns into one.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: He becomes more and more of a Jerkass as the stress of campaigning and then running the city wears on him.

Clarence Royce

Next year? For some things, that's a long time to wait.

Deeply corrupt mayor of Baltimore. His administration has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime, which he seeks to patch over as best he can. Major Colvin's experiment in establishing drug-free zones causes crime to drop, and he makes the mistake of delaying action in bringing them to an end. When exposed, Carcetti campaigns against him for allowing them, and beats him in the mayoral election.

  • Cultural Posturing: During the Democratic primary campaign against the white Carcetti his staff prints up posters using African colors in an effort to appeal to racial solidarity.
  • Mayor Pain: Subverted; at first he's presented as too venal and incompetent to do anything about Baltimore's problems but Carcetti's arc reveals that it's the system rather than the person at the top of it that's most responsible for the city's plight.
  • Sleazy Politician: Not nearly as bad as Clay Davis, but still pretty unethical.

Marlo Stanfield

I wasn't made to play the son.

Up-and-coming west-side drug kingpin, head of the eponymous Stanfield Organization. He starts out small-time, operating in the vacuum left by the Barksdale Organization, and fights his way to supplant them and merge with Proposition Joe's New Day Co-Op. He works to eliminate his enemies and anyone who would betray him. A repeated theme in Marlo's characterization is his demand for respect, which trumps all other concerns. He frequently kills those who show him disrespect, or undermine his name on the streets however unwittingly. Marlo's obsession with respect ultimately proves to be his downfall.

Dennis "Cutty" Wise

The game ain't in me no more. None of it.

Soldier who has come to the end of his prison sentence. He is enlisted in the Barksdale Organization, but doesn't have it in him any more, and leaves. With funding from Avon, he opens up a boxing gym to keep youth away from drug dealing. He cannot keep Michael Lee from the streets, and takes a bullet to the leg trying, but keeps doing what he can for others.

  • Demoted to Extra: He's a fairly major character in the third and fourth seasons but his role in the final season is reduced to 1 short scene in which he gives Dukie some advice.
  • Handsome Lech: For a while. Eventually he grows into more of a Chivalrous Pervert because his dalliances (usually with their single mothers) are hurting his reputation with the boys he teaches; after being called out on it by Michael, he soon settles down with a real girlfriend.
  • Heel Face Turn
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Left 4 Dead fans will recognize him as Coach from the second game.
  • Mistaken for Gay / Mistaken for Pedophile: Specifically by Michael. "He just too friendly, you know? That shit creep me out, man, like he some type of faggot or something."
    • This has more to do with Michael than with Cutty. It's very strongly implied he was molested by his stepfather, and since Cutty serves as a father figure to him, he doesn't know what else to think about his kindness.
  • Parental Substitute / A Father to His Men
  • Pet the Dog
  • Reformed but Rejected: Subverted. Initially it looks like his efforts to go straight will be thwarted by bureaucracy and lack of means, but with the aid of the Deacon and Avon he manages to start up a successful boxing gym.
  • Reformed Criminal

Chris Partlow

Don't fret boss, I got you covered.

Soldier under Marlo Stanfield. Under orders, murders many, many people. Tutors Michael Lee in the ways of the game, and is the one who slays his abusive stepfather. He is eventually sentenced to life without parole, and quickly makes friends with Wee-Bey Brice in prison.

  • Affably Evil: Chris isn't particularly outgoing or charming, but he's always quite polite and pleasant when he isn't murdering people in abandoned buildings. Ironically for someone who's killed as much as he has, Chris is probably the most reluctant to commit violence of the higher-ups in Marlo's crew, and takes little pleasure in his work. When Marlo decides to have Michael killed, Chris is the only one to speak against it, albeit only briefly.
  • Badass Beard
  • Berserk Button: He does not like child molesters, as evidenced by his flipping out and beating Michael's stepfather to death. Word of God confirms it was because he was molested as a child himself.
  • The Dragon: To Marlo Stanfield.
  • The Dreaded: Just the sight of Chris let's Lex know he should Prepare to Die. The Boys also speculate that Chris might be a "Zombie Master."
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He'll kill a man without batting an eyelash, but child molesters absolutely disgust him.
  • Evil Mentor: With Snoop, teaches Michael the ways of the game.
  • Family Values Villain: He takes good care of his family, even after he is arrested and sent away to prison for life.
  • The Grim Reaper: In a series full of deaths, Chris is responsible for more on- and off-screen deaths than any other character in the series.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Kick the shit out of him.
  • Number Two
  • Pet the Dog: Takes a few minutes in the middle of a brutal gang war with Omar and his associates to visit his girlfriend and his kids, to whom he is warm and affectionate.
  • Scary Black Man: Not the only one, but as perhaps the most brutal killer in the entire series he deserves special mention.

Felicia "Snoop" Pearson

We will be brief with all you motherfuckers. I think you know.

Soldier under Marlo Stanfield. She devises a plan along with Chris Partlow to have people killed inside vacant houses, pour quicklime on their bodies, and seal them back up. When Marlo suspects Michael may be an informant, she is dispatched to assassinate him. Instead, Michael kills her.

"Slim Charles"

If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie.

Soldier for the Barksdale Organization who rose through the ranks when the group was disintegrating. A friend of Cutty, and respectful of his decision to leave the game. He manages to evade capture when the rest of the Barksdale Organization is raided at the end of Season 3, and goes on to join the New Day Co-Op, becoming a trusted member. When Marlo Stanfield takes over the Co-Op, he is a dissenting voice, eventually murdering Cheese and becoming effective head of the Co-Op at the end of the series.

Sherrod

A young dealer who is taken in by Bubbles. Bubbles tries to get him to go back to school, but Sherrod does not, and starts using. When they are attacked by another junkie, Bubbles puts poison in a dose of heroin, in the hopes that the junkie would rob them, use, and die. Sherrod takes the dose by accident.

Kenard

It's my turn to be Omar!

Very young friend of Namond Brice. Torments Dukie every chance he gets. He joins the Stanfield Organization as a dealer in Season 5, and goes on to assassinate Omar Little. Last seen in the final montage of the series being arrested by the police, presumably for Omar's murder.

Major Characters Introduced In Season Four

Duquan "Dukie" Weems

How do you get from here to the rest of the world?

Eighth-grade student. Living in dire poverty, he is bullied by everyone, including his friends Randy, Namond, and Michael. The clothes he is given by the school get stolen by his parents to feed their drug addictions. He is the one who shows Randy and Michael the bodies in the vacants.

He comes to depend on his teacher. Mr. Pryzbylewski. He is compelled to graduate, even though he is not ready, so he drops out and starts dealing alongside Michael. When this falls through, he tries to find work, only to end up with a junkie scrap metal thief. We last see him asking Pryzbylewski for money, and then shooting up in the final montage, with heavy implications that he's set down the road that Bubbles is escaping.

Randy Wagstaff

You gonna look out for me?

Eighth-grade student. Friend to Namond, Michael, and Dukie. He becomes known to the Stanfield organization when he sells them pigeons, and he is used to lure a disobedient dealer to his death. This, combined with the revelation by Dukie that the slain are sealed in abandoned rowhouses, eventually lead to him talking to the police. Rumors spread of his being a snitch, which causes him to be ostracized by his peers and makes him a target. Carver gives him police protection, which isn't enough to stop his house from being firebombed, hospitalizing his foster mother for the foreseeable future. Carver fights to find him another foster parent, even offering to adopt him himself, but nothing can be done to keep him from a group home. As we see in Season 5, the bullying and abuse break him until he is just another thug.

Namond Brice

I love the first day, everyone all friendly and shit.

Eighth-grade student. Friends with Randy, Michael, and Dukie. The money given by the Barksdale Organization as a reward for Wee-Bey taking the fall means he is (relatively) well off. He starts out as a drug runner. When placed in Bunny Colvin's experimental classroom, he is the most disruptive student, but is recognized to be smarter than he looks. When his family forces him into dealing, it is understood by all that the game will take his life. He is given permission by Wee-Bey to be adopted by Colvin, and becomes an excellent student.

  • Demoted to Extra: Is a central character in season 4 but only appears briefly in one episode of season 5.
  • Happily Adopted: From the end of season 4 onwards.
  • Heel Face Turn: When we see him in season 5 Namond has turned his life around and become a good student, winning an urban debate championship.
  • Jerkass
  • Jerkass Facade: He acts tough due to feeling pressured to live up to the reputation of his father Wee-Bey.
  • The Scrappy: Arguably he is this In-Universe. He's kind of The Load of the Barksdale organization; he's not a very good dealer, but Wee-Bey's influence is still strong enough to see him taken care of by Bodie.


Michael Lee

Yo look, I'm not tryin' stand around and let some chump ass niggas think I'm shook, I aint.

Eighth-grade student. Friends with Dukie, Randy, and Namond. An introvert, he lives with his junkie mother and abusive stepfather. It is strongly implied that he was sexually abused when younger. Starts boxing in Cutty's gym, but feels put off and starts dealing. He is taken under the wings of Chris and Snoop, and is trained to be a soldier. He works to take care of his brother and Dukie. His frequent questions of the necessity of murder place him under suspicion, and Snoop is sent to assassinate him. He recognizes what's going on and kills her first. He is last seen on the run from Marlo's people, having split from Dukie and his brother permenently, and become a stick-up boy like Omar.

Norman Wilson

Everybody's gettin' what they need behind some make believe.

Tommy Carcetti's deputy campaign manager, and later, his right hand man. He is brutally honest, keeping Carcetti in line and his feet on the ground.

Nerese Campbell

President of the Baltimore City Council. When Carcetti is elected mayor, she is immediately hostile to him because she was understood to be next in line after Royce. He proves to be pliable, and she comes around to pulling strings for him, though she scuttles many of his planned projects. She is elected mayor after Carcetti.

De'londa Brice

That boy need to get hard.

Wife of Wee-bey and mother of Namond. Forces her son to become a drug dealer after no longer getting any money from the Barksdale Crew.

Michael Steintorf

Mayor Carcetti's chief of staff. A realist, he lets Carcetti know that many of his plans are infeasible. Later, he pressures Daniels to alter crime statistics.

Renaldo

Omar's boyfriend after Dante. The first major Hispanic character on the show, he seems fairly new to the stick-up game, as he is unused to the amount of time Omar spends in reconnaissance. His being an unknown to the drug dealers means he can go places Omar can't in order to pick up information. He owns a taxi, which the two use for surveillance.

Major Characters Introduced In Season Five

Augustus "Gus" Haynes

Our job is to report the news, not to manufacture it.

Editor for The Baltimore Sun, who does his best to keep the paper alive and relevant during bad times for the industry.

Alma Gutierrez

A young reporter who has the bad luck to come onto The Baltimore Sun as it is downsizing.

Scott Templeton

Every last word is in my notes!

A young reporter who falsifies his stories. He is roped into the fake serial killer story, and ends up winning a Pulitzer while his more scrupulous colleagues are demoted.

  • Consummate Liar
  • Karma Houdini: Arguably the worst in the series, his unethical practices win him a Pulitzer Prize.
  • Smug Snake
  • Start of Darkness: Frustrated by the mounting pressure from the paper for big stories and his own incompetence, he starts fabricating and eventually hits it big by pretending to by kidnapped by McNulty's nonexistent serial killer.

Michael Olesker

A reporter at the Sun who writes a character piece on Bubbles. He enjoys a promotion to senior line editor when Gus is demoted at the end of the series.

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