The prolific HBO series The Wire came to an end after five seasons of exploring the city of Batltimore's corrupt institutions — here's why and whether or not it was canceled. With its pilot airing in June of 2002, The Wire hit HBO and became a success thanks to its slow-burn storytelling and controversial subject matter. The Wire mainly focused on two sets of people, major players in the Baltimore drug scene, and the cops who tried to catch them. Though the series was definitively an ensemble effort, the two characters who stood out, in the beginning, were that of Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and drug kingpin Russell "Stringer" Bell (Idris Elba).
The Wire ended in March of 2008 with 60 episodes under its belt, after exploring every dysfunctional institution that the city of Baltimore had to offer, from the school system to its shipping ports. While The Wire's devastating ending was arguably the perfect wrap-up to the series, many believed that the show could have gone on longer. Considering that the scope of the series was greater than its characters, this is technically true, and the show could have followed future generations as the criminal underground of Baltimore continued in its dirty dealings. However, that's not what happened, and The Wire subsequently went off the air — here's why.
The Wire Came To A Natural End (But Season 6 Was Unlikely)
Fortunately, The Wire was not canceled. Rather, showrunner and creator David Simon (who helped create The Wire's spiritual successor, We Own This City) believed that the series had reached its natural conclusion. After five seasons, The Wire had tackled head-on as many flawed societal structures as it could have, highlighting corruption through politics, law enforcement, and print media. The nature of The Wire's big-picture storytelling was its greatest strength, but at the same time, its greatest weakness. Ratings began dwindling with each progressing season, and many believed that the narrative began to test audiences' attention spans as time went on.
It's because of this that The Wire season 6 wasn't likely. During the series' heyday, it had stiff competition. Flagship HBO shows The Sopranos and Six Feet Under were in their prime and pulling massive viewership numbers. The Wire, with its meandering storyline and complex subplots, couldn't compete. Despite The Wire's critical adulation and acclaim, the series escaped with few awards to its name and even less recognition for its production team and cast. So, while The Wire wasn't canceled, it was certainly running on borrowed time. In addition, creator and former police reporter David Simon had a hard time keeping the series on the air in the first place.
The Wire Was Almost Canceled After Season 3
When watching The Wire on HBO, it was easily noticeable that there's nearly a two-year gap between the season 3 finale and season 4 beginning. This is due to the fact that the series was almost canceled after season 3. After watching The Wire, two big events could clue people in as to why HBO thought the story was done: Stringer's (Idris Elba) death and Avon's (Wood Harris) imprisonment. These two-story beats might have signaled to the studio that it was time for The Wire to end, especially after the divisive second season. However, ratings for the show went up after its first season and peaked during seasons 3 and 4. Luckily, David Simon fought tooth and nail for his show after each successive season, and The Wire was able to come to its natural end.
The Wire's story lives on through Simon's miniseries We Own This City, which features several actors from the former. There are few shows willing to tackle the same scope that The Wire did, and it's because of its breadth that the series had both repeated successes and failures. It is possible that the HBO show could've gone on past season 5. However, David Simon has made it clear that the series reached its natural conclusion, and continuing the narrative could've possibly ruined the prolific show in the long run. While it's a good thing that The Wire wasn't canceled, many were still sad to see it go.