Lance Reddick: The actor's best movies, TV shows, and games | Digital Trends Skip to main content

R.I.P. Lance Reddick: The movies, TV shows, and games you need to watch and play

Earlier today, it was announced that veteran character actor Lance Reddick died of natural causes at age 60. Reddick started his career in the mid-90s, appearing in such network shows as The Nanny and New York Undercover before moving over to cable, where he made a name for himself in HBO’s groundbreaking shows The Corner, Oz, and The Wire.

Reddick’s career wasn’t just confined to the small screen. As Charon, he was a key member of the John Wick franchise, with his final film role coming in the latest installment, John Wick: Chapter 4, which is set for release on March 24. He also starred in animated projects like The Legend of Vox Machina and video games like Horizon Zero Dawn. The following is a list of Reddick’s notable works and where you can watch or play them.

The Wire (2002)

The Wire
91 %
9.3/10
tv-ma 5 Seasons
Genre Crime, Drama
Cast Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Sonja Sohn
Created by David Simon

Though it ended in 2008, this crime drama is still widely considered to be one of the best TV series of its generation. Created and written by former police reporter David Simon, it takes an authentic look at various institutions and their sometimes twisted and controversial relationships to law enforcement. Reddick played Cedric Daniels, one of the few decent characters in the series, who worked in the Baltimore Police Department.

A different story is introduced every season, tackling topics from the illegal drug trade to schools and education. With Dominic West and Idris Elba among the top-billed cast, it’s no surprise the series lasted a successful five seasons and appears on many “must-watch” lists.

Oz (1997)

Oz
73 %
8.7/10
tv-ma 6 Seasons
Genre Crime, Drama
Cast Lee Tergesen, Harold Perrineau, Dean Winters
Created by Tom Fontana

The Sopranos often gets the credit for being the first true prestige television series, but that’s a tremendous slight to Oz, which predated Tony Soprano by two years. With truly shocking content, provocative stories, and an extraordinary cast, Oz redefined what a TV show could be.

The Oswald Correctional Facility — nicknamed “Oz” — is an explosive cauldron where inmates and officers fight for survival and power. Emerald City, run by Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), is an experimental unit within the facility that emphasizes rehabilitation and learning accountability during incarceration. The experiment doesn’t always work. Reddick played Johnny Basil, a cop who goes undercover at Oz as an inmate.

Bosch

Bosch
73 %
8.4/10
tv-ma 7 Seasons
Genre Crime, Drama
Cast Titus Welliver, Annie Wersching, Amy Price-Francis
Created by Eric Ellis Overmyer (developed for television by)
Titus Welliver plays Los Angeles homicide detective Harry Bosch in this Amazon Studios original series based on Michael Connelly’s series of novels. The first season of the critically acclaimed series has Bosch standing trial for the killing of a serial murder suspect while simultaneously confronting his past when a cold case involving a missing boy suddenly heats up again. After six well-received seasons, Bosch was renewed for a seventh and final season in February 2020.

The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)

The Legend of Vox Machina
tv-ma 2 Seasons
Genre Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Cast Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Marisha Ray
Created by Matthew Mercer

Fans of the game Dungeons & Dragons will love The Legend of Vox Machina, which is based on the D&D web series Critical Role. The adult animated fantasy series, which was initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, is set in the fictional world of Exandria, on the continent of Tal-Dorei.

The team known as Vox Machina set out for their first “grown-up” mission to avenge the murder of several town rulers, including their own offspring, by an evil lord and lady. Adapting many other classic story arcs, The Legend of Vox Machina was renewed for a third season ahead of its second season release.

Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West
87 %
T
Platforms PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Genre Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Developer Guerrilla Games
Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release February 18, 2022

Reddick wasn’t just a fantastic actor of movies and television, he also lent his considerable talents to the world of video games, where he voiced characters in a number of projects.

Perhaps the best-known of them is the Horizon series, where he voiced the character of Sylens, an ally to the game’s main female protagonist, Aloy. Just like in his other roles, Reddick imbued Sylens with an air of mystery and depthless knowledge. You know he knows more than you do, and you try for most of the two games to find out what’s he up to.

Horizon Forbidden West - Announcement Trailer | PS5

John Wick (2014)

John Wick
101m
Genre Action, Thriller
Stars Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Ian McShane
Directed by Chad Stahelski

Modern moviegoers, not to mention teenage boys, know Reddick best from the John Wick films. Reddick plays Charon, the concierge to the New York branch of the Continental Hotel, and Winston’s right-hand man.

In the first three John Wick movies, Reddick displayed a mystique that hid his true motivations. Reddick was set to appear one last time as the beloved character in John Wick: Chapter 4, which releases at the end of March 2023.

Movie images and data from:
Jason Struss
Section Editor, Entertainment
Jason is a writer, editor, and pop culture enthusiast whose love for cinema, television, and cheap comic books has led him to…
What happened to the Ghostbusters franchise?
The original Ghostbusters stand on a rooftop together.

2024 marks the 40th anniversary of 1984's Ghostbusters. In the years since that landmark American comedy was released, the franchise that sprouted from it has produced four big-screen sequels, including a Paul Feig-directed reboot starring an all-female lead cast. Compared to so many of the other popular, seemingly never-ending Hollywood franchises that have emerged over the past four decades, that's not actually that many sequels. The Ghostbusters franchise has, nonetheless, changed a lot over the years.

For a long time, the franchise's film side lay dormant. Despite repeated attempts to get it off the ground again, it wasn't until Feig's 2016 reboot that any big-screen follow-up to 1989's Ghostbusters II was released. Five years later, the reboot's timeline was abandoned when Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a quasi-direct sequel to Ghostbusters II, hit theaters. The film, directed by Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman's son, Jason, relocated the franchise from New York City to Oklahoma, and that wasn't the only major change it made.
What made the original Ghostbusters so appealing (and successful)

Read more
Mending the Line is Netflix’s most-watched movie right now. Here’s why you should watch it
Brian Cox, Sinqua Walls, and Perry Mattfeld in Mending the Line.

There's a new No. 1 film on top of the list of the most popular movies on Netflix. And it's not a thriller like Mel Gibson's Over the Line, or an action fantasy like Damsel. Instead, this week's most popular film on Netflix is Mending the Line, a low-budget film that stands apart from the standard streaming movies. And its budget doesn't get in the way of telling an extremely moving and emotional story.

Mending the Line had so little fanfare compared to other movies that it's genuinely surprising how quickly it found the type of audience on Netflix that eluded the film during its initial release in 2022. If you're looking to pick out something to see on your next movie night, these are the three reasons why you should watch Mending the Line on Netflix. You may even decide to take up fly fishing afterward.
Mending the Line has a fantastic cast

Read more
3 Netflix shows we can’t wait to see in April
Two teen males read a glowing book in Dead Boy Detectives.

It's not a surprise to find out that Netflix has been dominating in 2024. From hit shows like The Gentlemen with Theo James to popular movies like Damsel with Millie Bobby Brown, the streamer has put out an impressive lineup of original programming that crosses almost every genre and boasts popular stars, both young and old.

While its April programming schedule will have comparatively fewer titles than in the last few months, Netflix still has an intriguing selection that is sure to interest anyone with a taste for adventure and mystery. There's another adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, a French thriller set in a snowy mountain range, and a comic book adaptation from the fanciful mind of Neil Gaiman.
Ripley (April 4)
Ripley | Official Trailer | Netflix

Read more