Over the last few decades, there have been so many amazing shows that most people think the world is in the middle of a golden age of television. While that is awesome for obvious reasons, it does have one negative side effect, many great TV shows have been all but forgotten shortly since they get canceled. For example, in 2020 alone many outstanding shows premiered but most of them will ultimately be fade away.
Of course, there have been some shows that have passed the test of time. If you want the perfect example of a show that will go down in history, you only need to look at the legacy of The Wire. An outstanding show that many people have watched from the beginning to the end multiple times, there is every reason to think The Wire will continue to be beloved for years to come.
Since The Wire remains relevant to this day, fans of the show continue to learn more about the show’s production even though it finished filming many years ago. For example, in 2019 it was revealed that Idris Elba had a big reaction when he learned that his character from The Wire, Stringer Bell, was going to meet a violent end.
One Of The Best
After Idris Elba made his television debut in 1994, he spent several years making a living by landing small roles in a long list of often forgettable shows and movies. Then, everything changed for Elba when he was cast as The Wire’s Stringer Bell. A captivating character that viewers were instantly drawn to, Elba’s portrayal of Bell was simply outstanding.
Since Idris Elba’s time starring in The Wire came to an end, he has become extremely successful and amassed a truly impressive fortune. On top of Elba’s ever-increasing bank account, he holds a hallowed place in Hollywood. After all, when Tom Cruise was forced to vacate a role in the film Pacific Rim, that movie’s producers were forced to find a suitable replacement and they chose Elba. It also has to be noted that Elba played a notable role in the highest-grossing film franchise of all-time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Big Reaction
When Stringer Bell from The Wire met his untimely demise, it took the majority of fans by surprise even though the show was building up to that moment. After all, Bell was one of the show’s most important characters from the start so it seemed likely that he’d find some way to wiggle out of the situation he’d created for himself. Considering how important Bell had been to The Wire’s success, writing him out of the show was very risky. Fortunately, when you consider the fact that The Wire is still considered to be the best TV show in history by some proves things worked out in the end.
In 2019, Idris Elba and David Simon, the man who created The Wire and ran it, sat down to discuss Stringer Bell’s demise with someone from The Hollywood Reporter. Speaking about the decision to have Bell die, David Simon revealed that he was very aware that taking out the character wasn’t going to be popular. In fact, according to Simon, his wife called him an “idiot” when she learned that Bell was going to die.
As for why David Simon stuck with his decision to eliminate Stringer Bell, he explained his reasons to The Hollywood Reporter. "Stringer and Colvin are both from different sides trying to reform the drug war, and it's unreformable. It belongs to the gangsters and to the career cops who want to get paid, and so Colvin and Stringer needed to have the same arc, thematically, to make the political point. And at a point at which you let a character or charisma or any of that stuff dictate the story you're telling, you're kind of becoming a hack."
Tensions Flare
When Idris Elba initially learned that Stringer Bell was going to meet his maker, he was immediately upset. However, during the aforementioned Hollywood Reporter interview, Elba revealed that when he read the script for the episode in which his character was dispatched, he became “pissed”. The reason for that is that according to the original script, after Bell no longer among the living, his corpse was going to be urinated on. Unwilling to have his character go out like that, an angry Elba went to David Simon and “told him it was absolute tragedy, that it was sensational, and that it wasn’t going to happen”.
Fortunately, when it came time for Idris Elba to film his final episode of The Wire, David Simon had agreed to rewrite the script to the actor’s satisfaction and things went off without a hitch. In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Elba played a joke when they filmed the moment in which his character’s corpse was placed into a body bag.
“The mood on set was still heavy as a camera zoomed in for a close-up as the zipper came up over Elba’s face. In that moment, Elba opened his eyes wide, looked directly into the camera, and whispered, "Boo." Immediately, the formerly somber crew began howling. ‘We all just fell out laughing,’ says Simon. ‘It was one of the most charming things I’d ever seen.’”
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