Lance Reddick credited The Wire for being a massive hit without needing marketing, calling it “so freaking good” in a 2019 interview.
The late fan-beloved Lance Reddick may have left this world a bit too soon, but his iconic pieces continue to work their charms and leave global audiences mesmerized by them. For one whose career spanned over the course of two decades, the actor never ceased to deliver, starring across multiple genres ranging from action to comedy, and even in the hit series Young Sheldon.
And yet, when the late legend was commending a series for being “so freaking good,” it didn’t even need marketing to become a massive hit among fans, the show he was talking about wasn’t the series that served as a prequel to The Big Bang Theory. Instead, it was the blockbuster TV show that perfectly landed him his breakthrough role in the entertainment industry: The Wire.
Lance Reddick Credits The Wire For Being “So Freaking Good”
Of the innumerable projects he had starred in till he devastatingly passed away at 60 due to heart disease on March 17, 2023, Reddick seemed to have found only one piece that didn’t need to be marketed like the others to reach impressive heights of success. This was his own breakthrough granting series The Wire, where he played the fan-favorite role of Lieutenant Daniels.
Talking to GQ back in 2019, the actor shared his thoughts on the same, saying:
It’s one of the only shows that I know of that got bigger and reached its widest audience not because of promotion or awards or just sheer popular appeal while they’re on. The Wire didn’t have any of those things, but it was so freaking good that it was able to succeed anyways.
That’s not all; what further added to the show’s success was the time at which it was released. As Reddick continued to explain during the same interview:
It came out right when DVDs and binging television shows started to become the rage. It really became a worldwide phenomenon through people sharing the DVDs all over the world.
For what it’s worth, it seems like destiny was on show creator David Simon‘s side, considering how it managed to become one of the most raving successes of all time without taking much help from promotions and marketing. But what’s the most wholesome thing about it all was the fact that Reddick didn’t get tired of talking about the series even ages after it got off the air.
Lance Reddick Was “Proud of the work we did” With The Wire
Of course, starring in a series for long enough that you get closely affiliated with it is one thing that many actors aren’t quite comfortable with. To say the least, it is the feeling they want to shake off, as actors even get tired of talking about the same thing related to their shows again and again and yet again, all thanks to its tremendous popularity.
However, when it came to the late legendary mastermind, this was never the case. If anything, even after starring in the series for five seasons spanning nearly six years, when Lance Reddick was asked about this series a decade after it got off the air, he was anything but sick of talking about it all. As he continued to cheekily admit to GQ:
I’m not [sick of talking about it], actually! You know, it’s an iconic piece of history and I feel very fortunate and proud of the work we did with that.
Effortlessly enough, Reddick’s commendation and celebration of this drama series was only understandable for one too many reasons. For one, it received 59 nominations and 16 wins throughout the time it aired, including 2 Emmy nods. Plus, even today it ranks at a whopping 94% on the Tomatometer along with 96% on the Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, so we might as well give it the love and appreciation it deserves!
