We Own This City - What We Know So Far

The upcoming HBO limited series "We Own The City" has added yet another powerhouse talent to its already solid cast, thus increasing our interest in the developing project. 

The limited series was first announced in March over at Deadline. At the time, we learned "We Own The City" would be adapted from the non-fiction book of the same name written by Baltimore-area investigative reporter Justin Fenton. It was also revealed that "We Own The City" boasted the executive producing power of "The Wire" executive producer David Simon. Over the last 20+ years, Simon has become a top TV creative and has formed a strong working relationship with HBO. Together, Simon and the cable giant have delivered to audiences "The Wire," "Show Me a Hero," "The Deuce," and most recently, "The Plot Against America." Deadline noted in their March announcement that Simon and fellow "The Wire" producer George Pelecanos have been planning "We Own The City" since 2019 — two years before Fenton's book hit the shelves — indicating the pair's keen investment in bringing another complex, gritty crime drama to our television screens. Additional reporting on "We Own The City" has also confirmed that Reinaldo Marcus Green, the director behind gripping features "Joe Bell," "Monsters and Men," and upcoming Warner Bros. pic "King Richard," will helm all six episodes of the limited series.

Here's what else we know about "We Own The City," including the release date, cast, and plot.

It seems that "We Own This City" is scheduled for release some time in 2022, per the limited series' IMDb page. 

However, it seems no official confirmation has been made about the expected release date, which means one shouldn't be too sure it will premiere on HBO next year. That said, production on "We Own The City" is set to begin in late July 2021. This means filming should wrap up by fall 2021 and allow for enough time to get the episodes edited together, as well as trailers cut to promote the upcoming series. If "We Own The City" gets ready to air by the time the new year rolls around, we could be looking at a spring 2022 premiere date at the earliest. 

Then again, with the series not thematically tied to any specific season, and HBO's previously-shown willingness to release its prestige limited series' throughout the year, "We Own This City" could theoretically be released at any time in 2022.

"We Own This City" has amassed an impressive cast in the months ahead of its filming start. The most recent hire is Wunmi Mosaku, who has been on a hot streak recently with TV hits "Lovecraft Country" on HBO and "Loki" on Disney+. Per Deadline, Mosaku will play "an attorney assigned to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, which was investigating policing practices in Baltimore prior to the Gun Trace Task Force criminal investigation."

Previous to Mosaku's casting, Deadline reported that "We Own This City" had cast Jon Bernthal ("The Walking Dead" and "The Punisher"), Josh Charles ("The Good Wife"), and Jamie Hector ("Bosch") in key roles. Bernthal will play Baltimore P.D.'s Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, described by Deadline as "perhaps the central figure in the sprawling federal corruption case that centered on the agency's Gun Trace Task Force." As for Charles, he will portray Daniel Hersl, "a cocky, swaggering cop known amongst Baltimore residents for his casual brutality and was the subject of multiple citizen complaints," while Hector will play Sean M. Suiter, "a Baltimore City Homicide detective who was caught up in the [Gun Trace Task Force] case and called to testify before a federal grand jury."

Additional supporting cast members featured in "We Own The City" include Rob Brown ("The Dark Knight Rises"), McKinley Belcher III ("Ozark"), Darrell Britt-Gibson ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"), and Larry Mitchell ("The Trial of the Chicago 7").

As previously mentioned, the HBO limited series "We Own This City" is inspired by "Baltimore Sun" investigative reporter Justin Fenton's non-fiction book "We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption in an American City." Per Goodreads, the 2021 book details the downfall of Baltimore P.D.'s own Sergeant Wayne Jenkins and the team of plainclothes officers he oversaw called the Gun Trace Task Force. The team was a decorated and celebrated one, "but all the while they had been skimming from the drug busts they made, pocketing thousands in cash found in private homes and planting fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent. Because who would believe the dealers, the smugglers or people who had simply been going about their daily business over the word of the city's elite task force?"

"We Own The City" will trace the events leading up to Jenkins and his team being caught for their own crimes, and — if Mosaku's recent casting is any indication — the adaptation will also cover the 2018 trial which shook the city of Baltimore. This is going to be one HBO limited series you don't want to miss, so stay tuned to this page for further updates about this exciting new project.