Lance Reddick recently passed away at the age of 60, leaving behind an impeccable body of work in film and television. Tributes to the late actor have been pouring in from Reddick’s co-stars and colleagues, from Keanu Reeves to The Wire creator David Simon, and Destiny players have been saluting Reddick’s character Commander Zavala and holding vigils in his honor. Throughout his storied career, Reddick was one of the most reliable character actors in Hollywood, often called on to play lawmen and soldiers with his dependable sense of nuance and gravitas. From the Senior-Agent-in-Charge of the titular multiversal FBI branch in Fringe to the concierge who caters to every need of the assassins staying in his hotel in the John Wick franchise, Reddick has played a wide range of fascinating characters.
Phillip Broyles In Fringe
From the mind of J.J. Abrams, Fringe revolves around the FBI’s Fringe Division and their attempts to solve mysterious paranormal activity relating to a parallel universe. Fringe is a sci-fi workplace series in the vein of The X-Files, and Reddick played the boss of that sci-fi workplace as Phillip Broyles, the Homeland Security agent appointed as the Senior-Agent-in-Charge of the Fringe Division. The multiversal mythology of Fringe allowed Reddick to show off his range as he also played an alternate version of Broyles from the parallel universe, known as Colonel Broyles.
Major Richard Carver In The Guest
Adam Wingard’s The Guest is one of the most underrated thrillers of the past decade. Dan Stevens stars as a soldier named David who shows up at a family’s home and claims to be a friend of their son, who was killed in action in Afghanistan. As David stays with the family, they begin to suspect that he’s not who he says he is. David turns out to be a military test subject who’s been “programmed” to kill anyone who figures out his true identity. Reddick plays the military bureaucrat who let him get away (and is determined to bring him back), Major Richard Carver. Carver assembles a special forces team to take him down. This character is an interesting intersection between hero and villain. He’s the main antagonist standing in the way of the protagonist, but since the protagonist is deceitful and dangerous, it’s hard not to root for Reddick’s character, at least a little bit. The actor is as cool as ice in this role: a calm, collected, cold-blooded killer.
Chief Irvin Irving In Bosch
Reddick made a great foil for Titus Welliver’s titular LAPD detective in Bosch. The Chief of Police in Harry Bosch’s district, Irvin Irving, is a veteran law enforcer who does things by the book and pays close attention to detail. Like John Larch’s character in Dirty Harry, Irving is a classic example of a police chief who’s caught between a renegade cop who gets results and his superiors who want him to clean up his act. Irving constantly butts heads with Bosch, who is more than willing to bend the rules in the pursuit of justice. Reddick perfectly embodied the character as written by Michael Connelly in the source material. After his unforgettable performance in Bosch, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part as effectively.
Charon In The John Wick Franchise
The two actors who are as intrinsically linked to the John Wick franchise as Keanu Reeves are Ian McShane and Lance Reddick. McShane plays Winston, the owner of the New York branch of the Continental, a hotel chain that exclusively caters to hitmen, and Reddick plays Charon, the trusty concierge. Not only does Charon provide the guests of the Continental with excellent service; when the High Table sends its henchmen to kill a valued guest like Wick, Charon will take up arms and turn the hotel into a battleground to defend them. The symbolism of Charon’s character is almost as fascinating as Reddick’s performance. Charon’s mythological namesake is the ferryman of Hades who provides lost souls with safe passage to the underworld in exchange for a coin, much like the concierge of the Continental.
Cedric Daniels In The Wire
No other TV show has been called the greatest ever made more often than The Wire (except maybe Breaking Bad). Reddick was one of the most significant players in the series’ sprawling ensemble cast in the role of Cedric Daniels. Daniels was a major character in The Wire from its very first episode to its very last episode. Throughout the series, Daniels rises to the rank of police commissioner, but quits the police force and becomes a defense attorney when the city council pressures him to manipulate crime statistics. In a series full of amoral cops and sympathetic criminals, Daniels, for the most part, exemplified what a police officer should be. He’s committed to justice, he refuses to take bribes, and he keeps his subordinates focused on making worthwhile arrests and doing good, honest police work.