Russell "Stringer" Bell is a fictional character in The Wire, played by Idris Elba. He is a secondary antagonist for season 1 and 2, later being the main antagonist for season 3. In the criminal world of early 2000s Baltimore, Bell serves as drug kingpin Avon Barksdale's second-in-command and assumes direct control of the Barksdale Organization during Avon's imprisonment. Bell is an extremely intelligent man and a natural leader, but shuns the flamboyance of the likes of Avon for ruthless pragmatism and terse professionalism.
