Two decades after The Wire premiered on HBO, the network is gearing up for another gritty crime drama in the same vein as the acclaimed Emmy-nominated series. From The Wire creator David Simon comes We Own This City, which unveiled its first trailer on Wednesday.
Taking place, once again, in Baltimore, the series stars bruiser Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, The Punisher) as a corrupt cop in the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force.
“I just want to run a hypothetical by you,” Bernthal’s Sgt. Wayne Jenkins poses in the trailer. “Say we’re on an investigation and we find a big-time drug dealer, a real fuckin’ monster, right? We get wind of where he’s keeping his cash, and we actually come upon that cash. It’s right there in front of us. And we just, you know, we take it.”
Such is the plot of We Own This City, which sees abusive cops undermining the system to reap the rewards of America’s war against drugs. Based on the book of the same name by Baltimore Sun investigative reporter Justin Fenton, the limited series chronicles how these police officers were able to keep their jobs after their shocking crimes and corruption.
In addition to Bernthal, the series stars Wunmi Mosaku, Jamie Hector, McKinley Belcher III, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Josh Charles, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rob Brown, Don Harvey, David Corenswet, Larry Mitchell, Ian Duff, Delaney Williams, and Lucas Van Engen.
We Own This City is just Simon’s latest collaboration with HBO, following The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme, The Deuce, and The Plot Against America. He co-created the series with The Wire producer George Pelecanos, with King Richard’s Reinaldo Marcus Green attached to direct the saga.
We Own This City debuts on HBO and HBO Max on April 25.
