HBO has renewed its Baltimore-based drama, “The Wire,” for a fourth season.
Shooting will begin later this year, with the debut set for 2006, Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment, said Thursday.
Strauss said it was the power of series creator David Simon’s writing that ultimately won another season for “The Wire.”
“As always happens with David, he works extremely hard constructing a story. Last weekend, he presented us with a really potent, complex and interesting story for the fourth season, and we all looked at it and said, ‘There’s just no way we can say no to this. It’s just too good.”’
Simon said each season has been thematically distinct, focusing in turn on the drug war, unionized labor and local politics. The fourth season will address the public school system.
“This is basically going to be the beginning of a new arc,” he said. “The thing that we tried to convince HBO was that there was more to be said about the American city. It’s gratifying to have the opportunity to continue to explore this urban universe that we created.”
He added: “While we only got the order for one season, the feeling is that if we execute well on season four, we’ll be back for another.”