I was thinking about it the other day, and I was thinking about how when we advance in technology, different mediums become new places to create art. At first, it starts as kind of a pop culture thing and then eventually it really starts to evolve into another art form. We've moved from the epic poem to the play to the novel to film. I feel like in television, more than anything else I feel like its legacy is going to be, dramatic television as true art and as true social commentary with all the complexity and significance that entails. In some ways, I feel like it's opening the door for people to say it's okay to be as complex and real and as artful as you can be and that there's a market for it.

Do you think at some point people will go back and discover this show on DVD years from now?
To be honest, it's happening now. Because of the timing of everything with the strike and HBO's well drying up a little bit from that period when they had so many hits, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos and Sex and the City and even though The Wire didn't have the industry acclaim that the other shows had, it had as much, if not more, critical acclaim. So with those shows gone, on top of the strike happening and all of these other shows shutting down, The Wire is the only show during the strike that aired its entire season. And HBO threw more weight behind it than it had since the first season. So, for the first time, everybody in Hollywood is talking about it.

I called Amy Ryan to congratulate her on her Oscar nomination about a month ago and I got a message from her just last weekend saying that when she was going around to all of her Oscar parties, everybody was saying how much they loved her work on The Wire. So finally, everybody's talking about it.

And I was talking to my ex-wife the other day and she was saying that all of her friends, everybody's talking about it now. Everybody's running out and getting all four seasons.

It's funny that people are finally realizing how great the show is now that it's over, which is probably actually fitting for The Wire.
It kind of is.

Dominic West, Wendell Pierce and Sonja Sohn are reportedly trying to convince David Simon to do a Wire movie. Is this something you would like to see happen and would be on board with? And if so, do you think it would be easier to pick up where things left off with season five or to do a prequel?
As far as a movie goes, my understanding from part of an interview that Dominic West did recently, is that David's take on it is that he'd probably be inclined to do a prequel, if anything at all. For my part, I'm ready to move on from Daniels. I don't want the show to be like one of those great athletes that just didn't know when to quit. I think it was a fantastic ending to probably the greatest crime drama (if not the greatest drama) in the history of television. I'm not saying I would say no out of hand if it was offered to me, but at this point, I'm skeptical.

In addition to The Wire, you play the creepy Matthew Abaddon on Lost. How did you land that role and have they given you any information about your character beyond what has been seen on screen?
To be perfectly frank, he didn't give me much explanation. So I don't even know who the guy is yet. I only did the first two episodes of the season and right now it looks like I'll be shooting one episode and I don't know how many more at the beginning of April.

How do you play a character if you have no idea who he is?
I won't say I have no idea. Once again, they're even more secretive than The Wire. Like, for example, your script has your name encoded across every single page, so if you lose your script it's a big deal. But, I'm just trying to think of how much I can say - the thing that he said was think of him as Darth Vader. (Laughs.) He's probably not the top guy in whatever organization he's in.

You mentioned you don't watch much television. Were you a fan of Lost before becoming a part of the show?
No, I was cast and I went back and did homework. I got the first two seasons and watched them on DVD and then, of course, I got hooked.

We have a theory that you will be the person in the casket that Jack visits at the end of the last season. Do you care to comment on this theory?
See, I'm thinking it's Ben.

Ben seems too obvious. We think the writers will swerve everyone and it will end up being you, even though your character was introduced after the episode featuring the casket.
I don't know. You may find out not much later than I do. (Laughs.)

So you have no clue how much you will be in the show?
I don't know how much I'll be in it. The other thing that complicates it a little bit is that now I'm on this new show called Fringe, assuming that that goes (and that is an assumption at this point), I'll be doing double duty for a little bit. The good thing is that it's also J.J. Abrams.

What can you tell us about Fringe?
It's an "X-Filesy" kind of show. But it's going to be more action-oriented. And it's a bigger cast, so a lot more twists and turns. In that regard, it will be a lot like Lost. Fringe is the name of this special governmental investigative team that investigates terrorists/paranormal activities. And I'm the head of the unit.

So you are the Daniels of the Fringe unit?
Yeah, well, kind of. Part of me, when I read the script, I thought, "If there's a role for me, then that's the role," because it's a cool role. He's a lot more of a hard ass than Daniels is, believe it or not. As a personality, he's more like Rawls. He's a real ass. But he's also one of the good guys. I think a lot like Lost, character will seem like they're one thing, then they'll turn out to be something else. And they will turn out to be something else again. I can already see it in the pilot. And it's a two hour pilot.

If it does get made, will this show going to be on ABC?
No, this is Fox. Warner Bros. is producing it and it's going to be on Fox.

But you still aren't sure if it's a go yet?
Well, only because that's the way all pilots are. So until they give the official go, you can't really say. It's one of those things where you never know until the contract is signed or until you get the official word. So officially it's not cool for me to say we are going to make this series. But it's looking really good. I feel like we'd have to really mess it up to not get picked up.

What else does the future hold for you? We know you have some films coming out soon as well.
Yeah, I have a film called Tennessee, which actually shot a year ago in New Mexico. It was produced by Lee Daniels, who did Monster's Ball and The Woodsman.

What's your role in that film?
I play a state trooper. (Laughs.) It's a drama. The theme of the film is domestic violence and abuse. And then people, whether it's children or spouses, coming to terms with that.

You have another film on the horizon called The Way of War. What is that about?
It's a political thriller. It's kind of like Syrianna meets The Bourne Identity. It's about this special forces operative over in the middle east who finds out that he's been a pawn. It's starring Cuba Gooding Jr.

How is the music career going? Are you still writing and recording music?
It's funny, so much else had been happening that I kind of put that aside for a moment. But I'm just in the process of finishing redoing my website. I just got a MySpace page done for the first time, believe it or not. And the music is now online, it should be available for sale, at least for download, in a couple of weeks.

Interviewed by Joel Murphy, March 2008. For more information on Lance Reddick, visit his official website.