To help ring in the holiday season, actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is having some fun with his character from the gritty HBO prison drama Oz. Debuting on HBO in 1997, the series featured an ensemble cast that included Akinnuoye-Agbaje as incarcerated murderer Simon Adebisi. The character was among the most memorable of the series, partly due to the excellent portrayal of Akinnuoye-Agbaje in the role.
Decades later, Akinnuoye-Agbaje is reflecting on Oz with a post on social media. It features an image of Adebisi with a Santa hat photoshopped onto the character’s trademark tiny hat. The actor also writes, “Happy Xmas Hols from Adebisi – Life is short – so make it a gangster one. spread some love ‘n make all them wishes come true.”
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“It was a two-line character, he had two lines,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje said his character’s evolution in a Larry King interview. “With each episode, (writer/creator Tom Fontana) liked what I was doing and would add more. And by the end of the first season, he was a main character.”
Related: Ernie Hudson Reflects on Oz Role, Addresses Possibility of Revival
Oz Wasn’t Like Anything Else That Came Before It
HBO
Oz was a trailblazer when it hit HBO in the late 1990s, opening the door for what could be done on The Sopranos, The Wire, and other shows that would follow in subsequent years. Oz was also killing off main characters years before Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead were shocking viewers with it. Perhaps because it was a bit ahead of its time, Oz didn’t pull in the viewership or award recognition it deserved during its TV run, though it’s fondly remembered in retrospect. It sits with a 92% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 96%.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje was one part of a strong ensemble cast that helped make the series connect with fans as well as it had. The cast also included Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, Harold Perrineau, Eamonn Walker, Kirk Acevedo, Rita Moreno, J. K. Simmons, Lee Tergesen, Dean Winters, Scott William Winters, B. D. Wong, Edie Falco, Kathryn Erbe, Lance Reddick, and Christopher Meloni. Many notable guest stars such as Patti Lupone, LL Cool J, and Luke Perry have also been featured.
You can watch the entire series of Oz on HBO Max.
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