See also Omar Little and associates for a list of characters affiliated with Omar
| Omar Little | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First appearance | The Buys (episode 1.03) |
| Created by | David Simon |
| Portrayed by | Michael K. Williams |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | late 20's - early 30's (29 in season 2) |
| Family | Josephine, grandmother; Anthony, brother |
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. Omar is a renowned stick-up man who lives by a strict code and never deviates from his rules, foremost of which is that he never robs or menaces people who are not involved in the drug trade. Omar, who is gay, has had three partners on the show. Omar is the only major character on the series who claims to make a point of not using profanity.
Contents |
Biography
Omar was orphaned at a young age, and raised by his grandmother Josephine, who is largely responsible for his strict moral code. He attended Edmondson High School in West Baltimore, a few years behind Bunk Moreland. For more than ten years, Omar has made his living holding up drug dealers, and staying alive "one day at a time". He is legendary around Baltimore for his characteristic shotgun, trench coat, facial scar, and whistling the "The Farmer in the Dell". He repeatedly demonstrates exceptional skill as both a stick-up man and shooter, further contributing to his feared status as an efficient professional. Once a month, he accompanies his elderly grandmother to church. He also has a brother, "No Heart" Anthony, who is currently incarcerated for a jewelry store robbery in the early '90s. He is also an avid fan of Honey Nut Cheerios
Season one
After Omar, his boyfriend, Brandon, and Bailey robbed a stash house, Avon Barksdale put out a contract on the trio (doubling the reward once he discovered Omar was gay). Bailey was killed, and Brandon was tortured, mutilated, and killed for keeping silent on Omar's whereabouts. In response to this, Omar cooperated with Detectives Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland, providing key information leading to the arrest of Barksdale soldier Bird, and agreed to be a witness against him at his trial (though he was not an actual witness to the crime). While meeting with the police, he observed information which he used to exact further revenge against the Barksdale Organization, killing Stinkum and wounding Wee-Bey Brice. Omar even got a shot at Barksdale himself, by giving stolen drugs to Eastside drug kingpin Proposition Joe for Avon's pager number. He tailed Avon to Orlando's strip club, paged him and waited for him to emerge into the open. Avon narrowly escaped when Wee-Bey arrived and shot Omar in the arm. Afterwards, Stringer Bell offered Omar a truce, planning to kill him when he relaxed his guard. Omar realized Stringer's duplicity and left town, temporarily relocating to New York City.
Season two
Omar returned to Baltimore with a new boyfriend, Dante. He quickly returned to his old business, targeting the Barksdales exclusively, and connected with Tosha and Kimmy, stick-up artists who joined his crew. Omar provided false testimony against Bird in open court as he had promised to do. Unabashed and unapologetic about who he was, he won over the jury with his wit; when Barksdale attorney Maurice Levy called him a parasite who thrived on the drug trade, Omar quickly pointed out that Levy was essentially the same thing. In the end, the jury accepted Omar's testimony, and Bird was sent to prison for life. Assistant State's Attorney Ilene Nathan promised Omar a favor as a thank you for his testimony. Around this time, Stringer Bell wanted to get rid of hitman Brother Mouzone. Arranging a meeting through Proposition Joe and Omar's advisor and confidant Butchie, Stringer claimed to Omar that Mouzone was the one who tortured Brandon. Omar found Mouzone and shot him once but at the last minute, Omar realized he had been duped, and let Mouzone live. He redirected his murderous intent at Stringer himself.[1][2]
Season three
Tosha was killed during a raid on a Barksdale house, and Omar contemplated giving up his war against the Barksdale organization. Detective Bunk Moreland, investigating the deaths, made Omar feel further guilt over the incident, and Omar provided him a lost police pistol as a way of making amends. Under orders from Stringer Bell, two of Avon's soldiers attacked Omar while taking his grandmother to church. Omar forced her into a taxi, but she lost her best hat in the gunfire. This blatant violation of the longstanding "Sunday truce" between rival gangs led Omar to re-dedicate himself to war with the Barksdales, though Kimmy opted out. Avon, outraged at Stringer, forced the men responsible for the attack to buy Omar's grandmother a new hat. Meanwhile Brother Mouzone captured Dante, and forced him to reveal Omar's hiding place. (Dante gave in almost immediately, in contrast with Brandon who never cracked.) Mouzone suggested an alliance against Stringer. Together, Omar and Mouzone ambushed Stringer during a meeting with Andy Krawczyk and executed him. Brother Mouzone set Dante free and returned to New York, and Omar threw his shotgun and Brother Mouzone's pistol into the harbor. Bunk Moreland managed to get assigned to this murder as well.
Season four
Omar felt dissatisfied with how easy work had become and worried that pursuing easy thefts would make him soft, so he and new boyfriend Renaldo pull a robbery of one of Marlo Stanfield's dealers, Old Face Andre who ran a westside corner store that was in actuality a drug front. At Proposition Joe's suggestion, they proceeded to rob a card game, not knowing that it was held by Marlo Stanfield; Marlo vowed to get revenge. Chris Partlow framed Omar for the murder of an innocent woman at Old Face Andre's convenience store, and Omar was jailed. During the arrest, he is initially robbed by Officer Walker and questioned by Officer Jimmy McNulty who is puzzled as to why a murder warrant is present for Omar murdering a citizen. When imprisoned in Baltimore City's Central Booking, Omar recognized many of the inmates as most of the inmates wanted to kill him for robbing them on previous occasions. In retaliation for an attempt on his life, he brutally stabbed an adversary in the rectum as a means of warning the other inmates not to attack him. Omar was able to convince Detective Bunk Moreland that he would never kill a "citizen". After having Omar transferred to a safer prison (calling in the favor from Ilene Nathan), Bunk managed to prove Old Face Andre's lies. The charge against Omar was dropped and Bunk transported him out of Harford County with a warning - no more murders against anyone. The unsolved murders at his hands that Bunk knows about, such as Stringer Bell or Tosha, will be brought up if Omar is caught killing anyone else. Omar found out that Marlo framed him, and was the one he robbed at the card game. Omar demanded that Proposition Joe help him rob Marlo, and Joe agrees to alert Omar when Cheese is dropping off Marlo's package. Omar orchestrates an elaborate and successful hijacking of Joe's entire shipment of heroin as it enters port. As he had no wish to sell drugs on the street, he sold the heroin back to Proposition Joe. As of the end of the season, he has made a lot of money, but has all of the dealers ready to put a contract on his head.
The Wire Prequels
A brief prequel released before season five featured a young Omar, his brother Anthony, and an unidentified older boy planning and executing a robbery of a man at a bus stop in 1985 Baltimore. Even as a young boy Omar shows remarkable intelligence, morality and force of character by first questioning the value of robbing the man and then compelling the unidentified older boy (at gunpoint) to return the money. Anthony expresses tired amusement at Omar's actions, demonstrating his familiarity with his brother's forceful personality and perhaps foreshading conflict between them. Omar is shown with his characteristic facial scar, indicating that he somehow received it as a child.
Casting and origins
Michael K. Williams received the part after only a single audition, although the character was initially slated to appear in just seven episodes before dying. Williams has stated that he pursued the role because he felt it would make him stand out from other African Americans from Brooklyn with acting talent because of its contradictory nature.[3] David Simon has said that Omar is based on Shorty Boyd, Donnie Andrews, Ferdinand Harvin, and Anthony Hollie, Baltimore stickup men between the 1980s and early 2000s who robbed drug dealers.[4] Donnie Andrews later reformed, is married, and now helps troubled youths.[5] In season 4 of the Wire Andrews plays one of the two men Butchie sends to help Omar in prison, in the episodes "Margin of Error" and "Unto Others" and Omar later meets up with him at Blind Butchie´s in "That's Got His Own" while planning the big drug robbery.
Critical response
For his portrayal of Omar, Michael K. Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. The character was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brings to the portrayal.[6] Omar has been named as one of the first season's richest characters, not unlike the Robin Hood of Baltimore's west side projects, although his contradictory nature was questioned as a little too strange.[7] The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him "arguably the show’s single greatest achievement."[8] Williams has stated that he feels that the character is well liked because of his honesty, lack of materialism, individuality and his adherence to his strict code.[3]
References
- ^ Character profile - Omar. HBO (2004).
- ^ Dan Kois (2004). Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire". Salon.com.
- ^ a b Joel Murphy (2005). One on one with... Michael K. Williams. Hobo Trashcan. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
- ^ Richard Vine (2005). Totally Wired. The Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on 2006-07-19.
- ^ Urbina, Ian. "From Two Broken Lives to One New Beginning", The New York Times, 2007-08-09. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
- ^ Robert Bianco (2004). 10 Reasons we still love TV. USA Today. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
- ^ Chris Barsanti (2004). The Wire - The Complete First Season. Slant Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
- ^ Brent McCabe and Van Smith (2005). Down to the wire: Top 10 reasons not to cancel the wire.. Baltimore city paper.. Retrieved on 2006-07-21.
