Ever since it went off of the air in 2008 after 60 one-hour episodes over the course of five seasons, The Wire has maintained a highly-regarded legacy of not only being one of the best shows ever, but arguably the greatest television show of all time. On top of producing compelling storylines, the show remains notorious for depicting multi-dimensional characters.

To this day, there are TV discussions that dissect and analyze these characters and their motivations throughout the series, nearly 20 years since all of them debuted on television. What's more fascinating about some of these characters is getting to the root of where they ended up during their final appearances at the end of the show, compared to where they were when the show first began.

Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on May 7, 2024: Over twenty years after the first episode of The Wire, the series remains one of the most popular of its age. Populated by real and complex characters, the drama came to an explosive ending, leaving many of its most popular personalities with memorable endings. This list has been updated to further explore The Wire's main characters, and their fate at the end of the series, as well as to meet CBR's most current standards for formatting.

10 McNulty's Questionable Deeds Led To An Inevitable Fate

Jimmy McNulty Was Forced To Resign Quietly

• James "Jimmy" McNulty is played by Dominic West.

The final season of The Wire was a wild ride for McNulty. In the hunt for Marlo Stanfield, McNulty delved to his most questionable depths. In hopes of convincing City Hall to supply the police with the funds they need, McNulty conspired with Lester Freemon to tamper with evidence to make it look like a serial killer was running the streets.

Of course, their scheme was discovered before the end of the season. When it was, to ensure that neither City Hall nor the mayor would look like fools during an election year, their situation was kept under wraps while both detectives were pressured into quietly resigning.

9 Russell "Stringer" Bell Was Set Up By His Own Partner

Stringer Was Gunned Down By Omar Little & Brother Mouzen

• Stringer Bell is portrayed by Idris Elba.

For many, it still comes as a surprise to think that the wonderfully complex character Stringer Bell met his end during the show's third season, long before the series finale, considering that Stringer Bell was introduced as The Wire's main antagonist as early as the show's first episode.

That all changed in the episode "Middle Ground," the penultimate episode to the Season 3 finale. Ultimately, it was his business partner, Avon Barksdale, who set up his proverbial brother by giving him up to Mouzen and Little. The pair then gunned Bell down at a development site.

8 Avon Barksdale Learned That Betrayal Was A Two-Way StreetWas Sent To Prison For 30 Years

Stringer's Betrayal Earned Barksdale A 30-Year Prison Sentence

• Avon Barksdale was played by Wood Harris

Prior to Avon's aforementioned betrayal and Stringer's aforementioned death that followed, Stringer Bell had already betrayed his business partner by telling Major Howard Colvin where Avon kept his weapons, hoping to send Avon back to prison. Shortly after his death, Stringer gets his wish and, in a way, the last laugh when the Major Crimes Unit raids Avon's safe house. For violating his probation, he gets another 25 years tacked on to his five-year prison sentence.

This is why Avon is entirely absent from the fourth season but reappears for the final season for a brief alliance with Marlo from behind bars. The meeting doesn't change Avon's fate, however, and even in 2021, if the show had still been on the air, he'd still likely be in prison.

7 Bodie Broadus Was Too Loyal To Barksdale To Work For Someone Else

Bodie Was Shot In The Head By O-Dog For Snitching

• Bodie Broadus was played by J.D. Williams.

Following the final collapse of the Barksdale Organization, Avon's most loyal corner boy, Bodie, is ultimately forced to work under Marlo Stanfield's growing regime. This new partnership was doomed to fail from the start. Bodie's loyalty to Avon was too great for him to work for someone else without conflict.

During the fourth season, McNulty was able to convince Bodie to reluctantly serve as an informant in hopes of bringing down Marlo's unit, but after Monk sees Bodie get in a car with McNulty, Marlo orders Bodie to be put to death. He's shot in the head by O-Dog, to McNulty's chagrin, after gaining genuine respect for Bodie's company.

6 Marlo Stanfield Could Have Been A Big Name

Instead, He Lost His Street Cred And Became Little More Than A Forgotten Drug Kingpin

• Marlo Stanfield was played by Jamie Hector.

Marlo Stanfield was all about raising the prestige of his own name in the streets, hoping that his reputation and success would dwarf the likes of Stringer Bell and Omar Little. For a short time, it did mean more than both of those names combined. Unfortunately for Marlo, the glory didn't last long.

His success became a thing of the past as the police came down on his tail. He would've been incarcerated, if not for misuse of wiretapping. The technicality was enough to put Marlo back on the streets on the condition he retire from the drug game. He obliged in hopes of becoming a "legitimate businessman." The final image of him in the finale is of a man who lost his street cred getting beaten by thieves who had no idea what his name was. Even worse, they didn't care.

5 Bubbles Was One Of The Few Characters In The Wire With A Happy Ending

Clean & Sober For The First Time In Years, Bubbles Committed To Staying That Way

• Bubbles was played by Andre Royo.

Bubbles spent most of the show hooked on heroin and assisting the police. That all changed in Season 4, where Bubbles is at his worst as far as both addictions and mental health are concerned. At this point, he's long been abandoned by the police he's helped and inadvertently causes the death of a young heroin addict. After a failed suicide attempt, he's sent to a psychiatric facility.

Fast forward to Season 5, where Bubbles has spent the past year sober and living in his sister's basement. By the season's end, Bubbles is finally clean and committed to walking the path of the straight and narrow. His sister finally let him come upstairs. Not a lot of characters on The Wire end up having a happy ending, but Bubbles certainly comes the closest.

4 Cedric Daniels Finally Had Enough Of Mayor Carcetti

Daniels Resigned To Become An Attorney

• Cedric Daniels was played by Lance Reddick.

Despite what his corruption investigation that took place prior to the show's events may suggest, Lieutenant Cedric Daniels, played by the late great Lance Reddick, is one of the few decent authorities in a dirty city. During the later seasons, his conflict tends to stem primarily from the political side of his job, specifically when it comes to Mayor Tommy Carcetti. Carcetti often made promises to turn the city around and clean things up, but some of the requests Daniels receives during the final season suggest otherwise.

The final straw to break the camel's back was when Daniels was asked to "juke the stats" in Season 5. That's when he resigns from his long-overdue promotion as Commissioner and instead pursues a career as a criminal defense attorney.

3 Bunk & Kima Became New Partners

Not Much Changed For Either Of Them In The End