Characters

By season[]

Season one[]

Main article: Characters Season One

The first season introduces the Barksdale Organization and other West Baltimore street level characters. It also introduces the Baltimore Police Department.

Season two[]

Main article: Characters Season Two

The second season introduces the characters of the Baltimore port including the stevedores and The Greek's smuggling organization. The Barksdale Organization and the police remain important.

Season three[]

Main article: Characters Season Three

The third season introduces the Stanfield Organization and a number of city politicians. The Barksdale Organization and the police remain important.

Season four[]

Main article: Characters Season Four

The fourth season introduces the Baltimore school system and focuses on the students and teachers of Edward Tilghman Middle School. The police, the Stanfield Organization and the politicians remain important.

Season five[]

Main article: Characters Season Five

The fifth season introduces The Baltimore Sun. The police, the Stanfield Organization and the politicians remain important.

By affiliation[]

The Law[]

Main article: Law enforcement characters

Law enforcement is an integral part of The Wire and characters in this field range from those enforcing the law at street level up to those setting laws city wide.

The Street[]

Main article: Street level characters

Characters in this section range from homeless drug addicts up to drug king-pins in charge of entire criminal empires.

School system[]

Main article: School system

This section includes the pupils, staff and Education board employees from the school system depicted on the show.

The Docks[]

Main article: Characters from the docks

This section includes the Stevedore's and their families as well as the criminal organization that controls smuggling through the Baltimore docks.

Journalists[]

Main article: Journalists

This selection includes the journalists of The Baltimore Sun along with television journalists and journalists from other papers.

Starring cast[]

Actor/Actress	Character	Position	Seasons
Dominic West	Jimmy McNulty	Major Case Unit Detective	1 to 5
Chris Bauer	Frank Sobotka	Union treasurer-secretary	2
Paul Ben-Victor	Spiros Vondas	Organized Crime Underboss	2 (recurring in 4 and 5)
Reg E. Cathey	Norman Wilson	City Hall Chief of Staff under Carcetti	4 and 5
John Doman	William Rawls	Deputy Police Commissioner of Operations (formerly Major/Colonel)	1 to 5
Idris Elba	Stringer Bell	Drug kingpin	1 to 3
Frankie R. Faison	Ervin Burrell	Police Commissioner (formerly Deputy Ops)	1 to 4 (recurring in 5)
Larry Gilliard Jr.	D'Angelo Barksdale	Crew chief	1 and 2
Aidan Gillen	Tommy Carcetti	Mayor of Baltimore (formerly City Councilman)	3 to 5
Wood Harris	Avon Barksdale	Drug kingpin	1 to 3 (recurring in 5)
Clark Johnson	Gus Haynes	The Baltimore Sun City Desk Editor	5
Deirdre Lovejoy	Rhonda Pearlman	Chief State's Attorney in charge of Violent Crimes (formerly Assistant State's Attorney)	1 to 5
Tom McCarthy	Scott Templeton	The Baltimore Sun General Assignments Reporter	5
Clarke Peters	Lester Freamon	Major Case Unit Detective (formerly Homicide Detective; also worked in Pawn Shop Unit)	2 to 5 (recurring in 1)
Wendell Pierce	Bunk Moreland	Homicide Detective	1 to 5
Lance Reddick	Cedric Daniels	Deputy Commissioner of Operations (formerly Lieutenant/Major/Colonel)	1 to 5
Andre Royo	Bubbles	Recovering Drug Addict	1 to 5
Amy Ryan	Beatrice Russell	Port Police Officer	2 (recurring in 3 to 5)
Sonja Sohn	Shakima "Kima" Greggs	Homicide Detective (formerly Narcotics/Major Case Unit Detective)	1 to 5
Jim True-Frost	Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski	Teacher (formerly Major Case Unit Detective)	1 to 4 (guest star in 5)
Robert Wisdom	Howard "Bunny" Colvin	Retired (former Major with police, and former educator)	3 and 4 (guest star in 2 and 5)
Seth Gilliam	Ellis Carver	Western District Sergeant in Charge (formerly Narcotics/Major Case Detective and DEU Sergeant)	3 to 5 (recurring in 1 and 2)
Domenick Lombardozzi	Thomas "Herc" Hauk	Defense investigator (formerly police Sergeant)	3 to 5 (recurring in 1 and 2)
Michael K. Williams	Omar Little	Stick-up man	3 to 5 (recurring in 1 and 2)
Gbenga Akinnagbe	Christopher "Chris" Partlow	Criminal enforcer	5 (recurring in 3 and 4)
Chad L. Coleman	Dennis "Cutty" Wise	Youth boxing instructor (former gang enforcer)	4 (recurring in 3, guest star in 5)
Jamie Hector	Marlo Stanfield	Drug kingpin	4 and 5 (recurring in 3)
Neal Huff	Michael Steintorf	Mayoral Chief of Staff	5 (recurring in 4)
Glynn Turman	Clarence Royce	Former Mayor of Baltimore	4 (recurring in 3, guest star in 5)
J. D. Williams	Bodie Broadus	Crew chief (formerly drug dealer)	3 and 4 (recurring in 1 and 2)
Jermaine Crawford	Duquan Weems	Arabber	5 (recurring in 4)
Corey Parker Robinson	Leander Sydnor	Major Case Unit Detective	3 to 5 (recurring in 1)
Tristan Wilds	Michael Lee	Criminal enforcer	5 (recurring in 4)
Michael Kostroff	Maurice Levy	Defense attorney	5 (recurring in 1 to 4)
Michelle Paress	Alma Gutierrez	The Baltimore Sun Crime Beat Reporter	5
Isiah Whitlock, Jr.	Clay Davis	State senator	5 (recurring in 1 to 4)