Jamie Hector on Why Season 6 of ‘Bosch’ Hits Close to Home
Q&A
Jamie Hector is busy these days helping with homeschooling, family game night and painting the house. That and participating in the #BoschStakeout watch party reliving past seasons of Bosch. The time has given the actor an opportunity to see his work as Detective Jerry Edgar on Bosch from a fresh set of eyes and renewed appreciation.
Amazon’s longest-running series returns for Season 6 today as partners Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) and J. Edgar tackle a case that can have devastating ramifications for the city of Los Angeles. Stories from last season also continue as the two look to close past cases.
“This season is the best so far,” Hector said. “One thing I know about the show is the growth. You see it this season all over.”
The star is glad the show can come back during time where people could use quality binging material, not only providing an escape but maybe using it to open up thought-provoking conversation and develop opinions — even finding comparisons from the Michael Connelly-adapted show to the world we live in today.
TV Insider chatted with Hector for some further Bosch questioning, including why Edgar’s soul-searching journey this season hits close to home.
When we left off on Season 5, you pieced together a connection between the murder of an informant, two dirty detectives from another division, and a family in Haiti. For someone who has similar roots as J. Edgar, what was it like to explore that side of the character?
Jamie Hector: It hits home because in reading the material I can think back to my family — my sister, my brother-in-law, my mother who come from Haiti. I ask them about it and then watching them and hearing them relive it and making it so real to me, that affected me. Then, from reading the material you do research. Then you pull up YouTube clips and old footage and read old New York Times articles.
Wes Klain
You realize this was bad [times] because remember I was younger when all of this was happening. And I’m in New York. I’m in America when this was all happening. It’s so far away from you that I wasn’t really wrapped up in it. It’s affecting me now seeing how much it affected so many of my people and family members. It was fun also to tell this story and being able to reflect and look back on the good times we had as well as the way things used to be.
Domestic terrorism is a big part of the plot this season when radioactive cesium is taken. It’s amazing how this book, The Overlook, came out in 2007 but elements of the novel are still relevant as ever. Did having the FBI involved and the threat of national security make this installment seem bigger to you?
It’s funny because all seasons felt big to me because I feel like we operate from that place. We operate from that big place on this show, epic. It’s different for me because it’s more personal — dealing with domestic terrorism and it coming and affecting us, Titus and I partnering to solve a murder that leads to this, something that could potentially destroy part of L.A. for 300 years.
Then having to deal with [J. Edgar’s] personal life and a friend that was murdered because of the position I put him in with the two detectives that led to his demise. It’s bigger in a way that I can tell you by the time we were on Episode 5, I felt we already shot two seasons. There is so much content and so much going on that I felt like by the time we got to that point, I was like, man. I like to track all of my scenes from one on. I felt like we were two seasons in this one season right here. It’s going to be great, people are going to enjoy it.
Saeed Adyani/Amazon Prime Video
The announcement was made that Season 7 will be Bosch’s last. What were your thoughts when you heard the news?
I don’t want it to end. To be a part of a show that is so good and is doing the work in terms of in front and behind the camera, you don’t want it to end. Knowing it’s going to end also brings closure. We had seven seasons that could go on for 20 seasons. It makes me feel good that we’re going to leave something that people will constantly revisit. We have a season coming out and another season to shoot where I have a chance to say goodbye to the team. Hello and goodbye, but not goodbye forever.
Your rapport with Titus Welliver shines through on screen. It has been fun to watch this partnership develop. How would you say your working relationship and maybe friendship has grown over the years?
That’s my guy. We’re friends. We speak on the phone. We live thousands of miles apart — he is from the East Coast but lives in the West. I’m on the East Coast, so once we separate we’re always calling and checking up on the kids. We just had a FaceTime session the other day making sure we were OK. His love for film and TV and my love for film and TV, we always connect on that level. He is funny. I tell him all the time three people, [Hector’s The Wire co-stars] Andre Royo, Chad L. Coleman and Titus Welliver, they need to get on stage and do comedy. And I’ll be the heckler in the crowd. They are storytellers, for real.
Do you prefer playing the good guy like on Bosch or the bad guy like drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield on The Wire?
I prefer to play the unknown. The character that is straight-laced and/or villain. I like to play different characters and challenge myself. There is never really a preference, it’s more about the quality of content. If the material is spot-on and dynamic and you can build those layers, that is what I prefer. You don’t want to play a one-dimensional bad guy or good guy. As long as that’s not the case, then I’m all for it.
Wes Klain
You recently attended the Black Film Festival (ABFF) where The Wire was honored with the “Classic Television Award” ahead of the 12th anniversary of the show’s series finale. What do you make of the show’s impact all these years later?
It’s beautiful to be part of that legacy. People are watching it and are tuned in. They have seen things they haven’t seen before. I’m proud to be part of that story. It’s shocking to me because I’d never been a part of something that has carried on for so long. There is so much content out there, this is the golden age of television. For us to have this one show, this show that came from humble beginnings to now still taking off the way it is, I’m just proud of the team.
You’d probably use the word “proud” to also describe the work your organization Moving Mountains and its theater company has done for the community and young actors.
One thing you don’t want to do is lose touch with your core group. You want to create. When you have a chance to show what you have on a larger scale, then you do that. Right now, we meet up on Zoom to make sure we are still here, still accountable for each other and also how we are helping the community and ourselves stay motivated, stay inspired, stay creative. Once the door is open, I’m sure people are going to flood in. Kids are going to flood in because people are just dying to create right now.
Bosch, Season 6, Streaming Now, Amazon Prime Video
