With seven years, seven seasons and 68 episodes in the can, the seminal Amazon Prime Video original series Bosch will wind down this summer.
Hardboiled titular character Harry Bosch will end his highly productive, albeit somewhat polarizing, run as an LAPD Hollywood Division homicide detective, moving on to become a Mr. Gadget for power attorney Honey Chandler. This isn’t a spoiler. We already know that star Titus Welliver and his character—inspired by the novels of Michael Connelly, living by his own rules, and answering only to the call of justice from high atop Laurel Canyon in his swanky, panoramically situated, smooth-jazzimbued bachelor pad — is being spun off into an as-yet-untitled spinoff on Amazon’s ad-supported IMDb TV platform.
Bosch bolting the LAPD was in the announcement. As Amazon gets set to upload the final eight episodes of Bosch on June 25, what we don’t know is what happens to Bosch’s longtime loyal partner, the stylishly able Jerry Edgar, played by actor Jamie Hector. When we last saw J. Edgar, as he’s most often called in the cubicles of the soon-to-shutter Hollywood Division, he was uncharacteristically taking justice into his own hands, offing Haitian drug kingpin Jacques Avril (Treva Etienne) in a shoot that internal affairs would definitely deem less than “good,” had Detective Edgar not — also uncharacteristically — lied about the details.
We caught up with Hector to ask him what the heck is going on with the usually so steady J. Edgar. And what’s he gonna do now?
What shows are you binge-watching right now? Bosch, Queen of the South, Godfather of Harlem
Where did you ride out the pandemic? L.A.? Back in New York? In New York and in L.A. when working on Bosch.
How do L.A. cops like J. Edgar eat at so many delicious-looking taco stands and burrito places and stay in such great shape? It’s called jogging, LOL — and small portions.
What technology that you use every do you like the best (hardware or software)? My Echo.
What’s the last book you read? We Own This City by Justin Fenton.
It was definitely a shock the way Detective Edgar took down Avril at the end of Season 6. What got into him?
What got into Jerry was the need for justice. Avril was about to commit another murder, and he had the protection of the government to do it. It was also personal — he killed Jerry’s uncle. It was that deep pain in Jerry’s gut that the world was going to lose with Avril in it because of the atrocities he committed in Haiti, the murders in the U.S. and the murders he would commit in the future, still under the protection of the government.
Your character on "Bosch" is definitely guided by a basic sense of humanity, which is very different from the more pathological Marlo Stanfield (of "The Wire"), a role you’re also really well-known for. Can you describe the key differences in approach?
The key difference in my approach was the sum total of their lives at the point in which we met them. Not just the moments before or the day before—it was their lifetime before that led up to the moment their stories began. They were created by their environments: Marlo saw his mother sleeping with a different man every night, and he slept on the floor. Jerry slept in his own bed, and he had the protection of his family who sang “Happy Birthday” to him and made sure he had everything he needed. Marlo’s life was built on lack and survival—he’s going to get what he needs by any means necessary—if that means respect, money, whatever he needs at that time, so be it. Jerry’s was built on access, protection and service.
How influenced is your performance by the Michael Connelly books? Obviously, those novels must impact the character development to an extent. But there seems to be a lot of you in J. Edgar.
In season 1, I read the books that the season was based on, and I felt as if I was playing the role with the knowledge of what was going to happen next. In life, it doesn’t work like that, so after season 1, I stopped reading the books beforehand, especially since the scripts were not written exactly like the books. When that would happen, it would throw me off when what the book and scripts said were different. It would be funny sometimes—for example, I am a runner, so when we would do a scene where a little running got Jerry winded, now that was difficult for me.
How challenging was shooting Season 7 of "Bosch" in the middle of a pandemic?
It was very challenging because pre-pandemic, the set of Bosch was a very comfortable, friendly set, where everyone was close, from the actors to the crew to the producers. Everyone spoke every day, and we ate together. So after six seasons of this comfort, when COVID-19 hit and we had to distance ourselves, that was challenging.
Any chance Jerry Edgar collides with Harry Bosch working a case for Honey Chandler in the IMDb TV spinoff?
You never know. I am excited to know that the work we did together was able to lead to a spinoff, and I’m happy about that whether I make an appearance in it or not.
