Lance Reddick, who played in prominent TV shows such as “The Wire,” “Fringe,” and “Bosh,” as well as films such as the “John Wick” trilogy, which is slated to premiere “John Wick: Chapter 4” next week, died of natural causes Friday morning, according to his reps. He was 60.
According to TMZ, he was discovered dead at his Studio City home in Los Angeles on Friday morning.
In “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which will be released in theaters on March 24, Reddick reprises his role as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in New York City who appeared in all four installments. Charon collaborated with Keanu Reeve’s unemployed hitman, most notably looking after John’s new dog in the second installment and participating in on the gun-toting action in the third. Reddick was also set to appear in Ana de Armas’ upcoming “Ballerina” spinoff.
Reddick, who is known for playing tough cops, was born on June 7, 1962, in Baltimore, Maryland. He got a Bachelor of Music in music composition from the University of Rochester. He moved to Boston in the 1980s and graduated from Yale with a Master of Fine Arts in 1994. In Season 4 of HBO’s prison drama “Oz,” he played his first major TV role in 2000. He portrayed Detective Johnny Basil, an undercover cop who seeks to stop the drug trade but gradually becomes addicted himself and murders a corrupt cop by shoving him down an elevator shaft. After being taken to Oz, Basil is stabbed to death by Clayton Hughes, played by Seth Gilliam.
HBO retained Reddick and cast him as Baltimore police lieutenant Cedric Daniels, one of the series’ characters, on “The Wire” in 2002. Previously, he had tried out for the roles of Bubbles (which went to Andre Royo) and William “Bunk” Moreland (Wendell Pierce). Daniels was in command of the narcotics division and gradually progressed through its ranks over the course of the show’s five seasons, regularly clashing with his superiors. In the series conclusion, he resigned as commissioner and went into criminal defense practice.
After “The Wire” ended in 2008, Reddick joined “Fringe” later that year as Phillip Broyles, a Homeland Security special agent in charge of the Fringe division. The committee looked at cases involving fringe science, pseudoscience, and alternate timelines. He was cast as another police chief in 2014, this time on Amazon’s “Bosch” series, which concluded in 2021. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for his performance as deputy chief Irvin Irving, following two nominations for “Fringe.”
Reddick most recently appeared as Albert Wesker in Netflix’s short-lived series “Resident Evil,” an adaptation of the popular zombie video game. He also contributed to Season 2 of Amazon’s “The Tale of Vox Machina,” which debuted in January. He also played the villain Sylens in the blockbuster PlayStation games “Horizon: Zero Dawn” and “Horizon: Forbidden West,” both of which were released last year, as well as Commander Zavala in the long-running “Destiny” franchise.
Reddick was cast as the Greek god Zeus in Disney+’s highly anticipated “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, based on Rick Riordan’s popular preteen books. Other upcoming roles include Hulu’s version of “White Guys Can’t Jump,” which will be released on May 19, Danny DeVito’s “St. Sebastian,” Netflix’s Shirley Chisholm biopic “Shirley,” Showtime’s “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” and the space drama “Apteros.”
Throughout his nearly 30-year career, he also appeared in “Lost,” “CSI: Miami,” “American Horror Story: Coven,” “The Blacklist,” “One Night in Miami,” “Angel Has Fallen” and “Godzilla vs. Kong.”
Reddick is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick, and children, Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick. Donations in his memory can be made to momcares.org in Baltimore, his hometown.