10 TV Actors Who Hated Their Storylines
7. Idris Elba Hated Stringer Bell’s Death - The Wire
It was unfortunate for fan-favourite actor Idris Elba that his character was always destined to bite the dust.
Playing Stringer Bell in HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire, Elba managed to gain quite the crowd of fans. His expert performance lent the character a nuance and depth that few predicted, even prompting the show’s team to admit that they hadn’t foreseen such a positive audience response. What he didn’t know as he built up his reputation on the show, however, was that Stringer Bell was never going to see things through to the end.
In season three’s penultimate episode, Bell’s time to go arrived. On reading the script, Elba admitted that he was shocked and hugely disappointed. With such huge audience support he had predicted a far longer run, but showrunner David Simon later came out to say that regardless of any audience reaction, Bell’s death was set in stone.
They had confirmed two years prior that it was what was going to happen, and nothing was going to change that. On a personal level Elba hated that this pre-confirmed storyline meant the end for his Wire run, however admitted that it was at least thematically appropriate to the narrative.