It’s safe to say few TV mavens know Baltimore as well as David Simon. He made his name there, first as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, then as the city’s small screen chronicler, starting with Homicide: Life on the Streets, continuing with the miniseries The Corner, and then in The Wire, a frontrunner for Greatest Show Of All Time. Since the latter ended in 2006, he’s been all over: Iraq (Generation Kill), New Orleans (Treme), Yonkers (Show Me a Hero), NYC (The Deuce), and Newark (The Plot Against America). Now Simon’s returning to Charm City for his latest show, which offered the public a first look.
“The Wire” team David Simon and George Pelecanos return to HBO with “We Own This City,” about the rise and fall of Baltimore PD’s Gun Trace Task Force and starring Jon Bernthal, Wunmi Mosaku, and Jamie Hector. The limited series premieres April 25. pic.twitter.com/PkR2bzWT6Y
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It’s called We Own This City, and it’s based on reporter Justin Fenton’s book about the riots that erupted across the metropolis after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody in 2015. Like The Wire, it looks at America’s “war on drugs” and how it’s led to the militarization of police, a rise in mass incarceration, systemic corruption and racism, and other issues that plague the nation as a whole. Specifically it will look at the BPD’s Gun Trace Task Force, which was initially seen favorably until it revealed that they were corrupt: taking money and drugs from suspects, planting false evidence, and more.
The all-star cast includes Simon regulars, like Jamie Hector, Dominick Lambardozzi, and Rob Brown, as well as the likes of Jon Bernthal, Treat Williams, Dagmara Domińczyk, and Josh Charles. The limited series, which will run six episodes, debuts on HBO on April 25.
(Via /Film)