We Ask John Doman: Will Rawls Find Love on ‘The Wire’?

Perhaps our all-time favorite throwaway moment in The Wire, a show filled with outstanding throwaway moments, was that brief and hilarious shot of then–deputy commissioner Rawls getting his drink on at a Baltimore gay bar in season three. So we got really excited when we saw John Doman, who plays Rawls, last night at the opening-night party for Unconditional, the new, racially tense LAByrinth play in which Doman appears at the Public. Sure, we want to know what will happen to McNulty and Michael and the Bunk and Marlo, but we asked Doman our burning question: Will Rawls find true love in the final few episodes? “I can’t answer that question,� Doman laughed. “The producers would have my head.�

Doman added, “I went to [Wire creator] David Simon at the beginning of the season and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re going to do with this. But whatever you do, the more outrageous, the better, as far as I’m concerned.’ And he just kind of looked at me and smiled.� Which is what Doman did to us. “I can say that Rawls gets what’s coming to him,� he offered. “And I happen to like Rawls.� Wow, that raised our hopes! Maybe he’ll ride off into the sunset with Omar. —Tim Murphy