The Wire, not only one of the best, but also one of the realest shows ever made, would not have been the same without Sonja Sohn's performance as Detective Kima Greggs for five seasons.
Turns out, though, that's almost what happened. Sohn nearly quit the show during the first season.
Sohn will participate in a The Wire cast reunion in Baltimore on July 18. She spoke to Uproxx to promote the non-profit she helped found called ReWired For Change, which helps Baltimore's high-risk youth and will celebrate several of the city's "unsung heroes" at the event.
Here's her explanation for why Greggs nearly disappeared from the series, from that interview:
"I definitely almost quit, and I stayed because something inside me was telling me that my role on this show was part of a larger purpose that I had in life. And despite the fact that going to work every day was like torture, I had to complete this assignment because it was part of a bigger picture in my life that I couldn’t see. I didn’t care about the money. I pretty much, at that time and now, take a much less materialistic view of the world. So, it wasn’t about the money. I didn’t care about being famous. And, at that time, I was really ready to walk away from acting and actually go into writing, which was my first love. I would have happily turned around and done that. But there was something deeper inside of me that led me to believe that this was part of a bigger picture that I couldn’t see, and that I would regret it if I quit. And that whatever difficulties I was having, if I stayed the course that I would be able to see the difference. So I stayed."
We're glad she stuck around. All five seasons of The Wire were released on Blu Ray last month.
