Wood Harris Explains How Fans Influenced ‘The Wire’ Storylines

Drug kingpin Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Russell “Stringer” Bell, became two of the most iconic characters on The Wire.

But Wood Harris, who played Barksdale, has revealed the two characters were only given more screen time after fans demanded it.

In a new conversation with TV One interview series Uncensored, Harris reflected on his career and some of his career-defining roles. The actor admitted he never expected The Wire to take off the way it did — with fans still quoting the HBO drama two decades later.

“When I first read the pilot script to The Wire, I don’t think I had any idea what kind of ride we were on,” Harris said in a clip from Uncensored.

The series offered a realistic portrayal of crime, poverty and corruption in early 2000s Baltimore and is considered one of the greatest American dramas ever made.

The series aired for five seasons between 2002 and 2008, and consisted of 60 episodes.

Harris said Baltimore detectives and police brass were initially envisioned as the primary focus of the show, instead of the criminals.

“The Wire was intended to be an episodic program that you follow the cops so the crooks could change every year,” he explained.

Season 2 shifted focus to crime at the Port of Baltimore with shady union boss Frank Sobotka (played by Chris Bauer), calling many of the shots.

The storyline returned to the Barksdale organization in season 3 with Avon and Stringer, played by Idris Elba, facing new competition and new scrutiny.

“Fans went hard at HBO to bring back the storyline. They brought it back because of petitioning,” Harris stated.

The actor noted that the scripts were penned just before each episode began production, and the cast had no idea what would happened next.

“The Wire was written script after script… the scripts came fresh off the presses. So all we had was one script at a time. We didn’t have three scripts or two scripts, or even a notion of what was going to be,” he explained.

Naturally, most of the characters involved in the drug game ended up dead or in prison. Before the series ended, Avon landed back behind bars, based on evidence provided by Stringer Bell.

Stringer was killed by Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) and Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts), after Avon got revenge by revealing his location.

Former police reporter David Simon created the series and served as head writer. The crime drama launched many of its cast members into stardom, including Harris and Elba.

Harris currently plays a dad on Netflix’s acclaimed young adult series Forever, from creator Mara Brock Akil.

You can hear more from the actor when Uncensored: Wood Harris airs Thursday, April 30 at 8PM/7C on TV One.