The Wire creator working on new Baltimore cop series
US screenwriter David Simon said last week that his new Baltimore-based TV series will not involve actors from his earlier gritty crime drama The Wire, contradicting details provided by his collaborator in an interview.
Simon’s co-writer on The Wire George Pelecanos told French magazine Society that he was working with Simon and Wire writer Ed Burns on a new project.
Pelecanos said the show would involve actors from The Wire and again be set in Baltimore, a port city plagued by violence and poverty.
The new show would focus “on the city’s police force which, in the past few years, has had to deal with several major corruption scandals within its ranks”, he said.
When asked on Twitter about the interview, Simon — who also co-created Treme and The Plot Against America for premium cable network HBO — initially confirmed the project was legit.
“Real. But not a sequel,” he wrote. But on Friday Simon said “something got lost in translation” and that the new series has “exactly nothing to do with The Wire or any of its actors”.
“Same writers, same city. Different story, different actors. No connection to Wire universe save that it is in Baltimore and deals with law enforcement. That’s it.”
The Wire, which ran for five seasons on HBO from 2002 to 2008, is widely considered to be one of the best drama series of all time.
The series follows the drug trade in Baltimore — as seen through the eyes of the cops, the drug dealers, the politicians and those who run the port.
It also looked at the East Coast city’s dismal education system.
Idris Elba (Luther, the Thor films), Michael B Jordan (Black Panther) and Dominic West (The Affair) are among the many actors who starred on the show, which was hailed for its realism.