Omar Little
| Omar Little | |
|---|---|
| File:The Wire Omar.jpg | |
| First appearance | The Buys (episode 1.03) |
| Created by | David Simon |
| Portrayed by | Michael K. Williams |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| 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 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. Notably, Omar is the only major character on the series who claims to make a point out of not using profanity.
Biography
Character History
Omar was orphaned at a young age, and raised by his grandmother Josephine, who is largely responsible for his strict moral code. For more than ten years, Omar has made his living holding up drug dealers, 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". 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 90's.
See also Omar Little and Associates for a list of characters affiliated with Omar
Season one
After Omar, his boyfriend, Brandon, and Bailey robbed a stash house, Avon Barksdale put out a contract on the trio. Bailey was killed, and Brandon was tortured and mutilated 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, sometime between the seasons. 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 testified 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 perjured 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. 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
During a raid on a Barksdale house, Tosha was accidentally killed by Dante in the middle of a fire fight, 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 revolver 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 loses her best hat in the gunfire. This blatant violation of the longstanding "Sunday truce" between rival gangs leads Omar to re-dedicate himself to war with the Barksdales, though Kimmy opts 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 a property developer 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, Officer Jimmy McNulty was puzzled that Omar would have murdered 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. To send a message, he had to brutally stab a past adversary in the rectum as a means of warning the other inmates not to attack him.
Omar was able to convince Bunk 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 (including The Greek) ready to put in on a contract on his head.
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 Anders, Ferdinand Harvin and Anthony Hollie, all Baltimore stickup men from the 1980s and 1990s.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6] 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."[7]
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. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ^ Dan Kois (2004). "Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire"". Salon.com. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
- ^ a b Joel Murphy (2005). "One on one with... Michael K. Williams". Hobo Trashcan. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ^ Richard Vine (2005). "Totally Wired". The Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ Robert Bianco (2004). "10 Reasons we still love TV". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
- ^ Chris Barsanti (2004). "Totally Wired". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 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 2006-07-21.
