Lance Reddick, whose TV performances were always memorable, died on Friday, March 17, of natural causes.
Reddick’s most famous role was surely Lt. Cedric Daniels on The Wire, which ran on HBO from 2002-2008. Daniels was one of the show’s leads, supporting the main protagonist Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West). The Wire told the emotionally complicated stories of Baltimore’s narcotics department and the many people they interacted with.
According to Reddick’s reps, Reddick “is survived by his wife Stephanie Reddick and children Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick. Donations in his memory can be made to momcares.org in Baltimore, his hometown. Lance will be greatly missed. Please respect his family’s privacy at this time.”
If you want to revisit some of Lance Reddick’s work — or discover it for the first time — here is where you can start.
John Wick 1, 2, and 3
In the action-revenge trilogy starring Keanu Reeves, Reddick plays the Hotel Manager, Charon.
In Greek mythology, of course, Charon was tasked with ferrying the souls of the deceased over the River Styx and the River Acheron so that they could be judged. Because Charon had to be paid for his services, the Greeks placed a coin in the mouth of the deceased.
As the concierge, Reddick’s Charon serves as the gatekeeper between the “real world” and the hotel where the world’s top assassins can find refuge, rest, and relaxation. He is not the only allusion to Greek mythology in the series; Chad Stahelski has described the story as an Odysseus myth.
Reddick is also listed as part of the cast of the upcoming John Wick 4, which premiers on March 24, 2023.
Bosch
Reddick’s character Irvin Irving on Bosch was a city councilman whose relationship with the lead character, Detective Bosch, changes significantly from season to season.
Irving was in all 68 episodes of Bosch, which aired from 2014-2021 on Amazon.
Lost
In Lost, Reddick played another Charon-like character. Michael Abaddon appears in 4 episodes of the show. Working for Charles Widmore, Abaddon’s job was to make sure that the various characters ended up in the right place at the right time. In Paradise Lost, John Milton described an angel called Abaddon, who ensured that souls made their way to judgment.
Abaddon was a mysterious character in the series, appearing to multiple people around the world to help them find their way to the mysterious island at the center of the plot. He got John Locke to take his walkabout, helped to recruit the scientists to go to the island to do research, and visited Hurley in the mental hospital to trigger him with questions.
And so many more…
One look at Lance Reddick’s IMDb profile and you can see how much work he did in Hollywood!
According to Rolling Stone, Reddick originally planned to be a musician. He was raised in Baltimore and studied classical composition at the University of Rochester. He eventually released an album in 2007, but most of his career was dedicated to acting.
He was known for playing men in law enforcement, but he worried about being typecast. However, his many other roles prevent him from being pigeonholed into one specific kind of character. In addition to the characters listed here, he also starred as Papa Legba on American Horror Story: Coven, Daniel Newcombe in Oldboy (2013), and characters on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Key & Peele, and Corporate.
Without a doubt, Lance Reddick and his performances will be missed.
