The 2025 Horror Masterpiece That Proves The Wire Star James Ransone Is A Genre Icon
Black Phone 2 now stands as James Ransone’s haunting swan song. The Wire alum, who played Max, the Grabber’s brother, was found dead on December 19 in an apparent suicide.
Some news hits harder than you expect. James Ransone — the guy a lot of you first clocked in The Wire and later as adult Eddie in IT: Chapter Two — has died. According to Los Angeles County officials, he was found at his home on December 19 and the death was reportedly by suicide. If you just watched Black Phone 2, that was his final film, where he returned as Max, the Grabber's brother.
Ransone, the artist who never romanticized acting
Here is the thing that always set Ransone apart for me: he was blunt about the work. In an Interview Magazine chat, he said acting wasn’t cathartic for him — and that the roles he gravitated to (or that found him) didn’t exactly make for easy headspace. It’s not the usual inspirational actor anecdote, and it tells you a lot about the guy behind all those tense performances.
'No. Not when you’re young. I still wrestle with the catharsis of acting. I don’t end up playing a lot of likable characters, so I find myself living in a lot of unlikable skin. As a result of that I don’t always feel good. I get a lot more catharsis from taking pictures or painting or making short films. You have some control. I think all art—if it’s good—is a result of really trying to create something that you can’t put into words. Where language ends is where good art begins.'
That tracks with how he moved: acting was something he did very well, but his real creative release came from photography, painting, and making shorts — places where he felt more in control. You can feel that tension in his screen work, especially in roles like Max.
So what did Black Phone 2 actually do?
If the first Black Phone was a tight survival horror, the sequel pivots. It leans into psychological terror rather than re-spinning the same supernatural beats. The ghosts are still part of the fabric, but the movie mostly pushes into trauma, guilt, and the dread that sticks long after the police tape comes down. It keeps you guessing about where reality ends and the head-trip begins — which is, frankly, a smart way to follow the original’s ending without just carbon-copying it.
Ransone’s presence as Max connects that world back to the original story, and it’s one of those small-but-key roles that adds texture. With chatter that director Scott Derrickson is already conceptualizing a third movie, the sequel feels like a deliberate step toward a larger, nastier psychological sandbox.
The quick-hit details
- Movie: Black Phone 2
- Director: Scott Derrickson
- Major cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demián Bichir
- Rotten Tomatoes: 72% critics | 83% audience
- Box office: $132 million worldwide
- Availability: Black Phone 2 is now up for rent on Amazon Video (US)
It’s a thoughtful, unnerving sequel that doesn’t flinch from the mess in people’s heads — and that’s exactly the lane where Ransone always did memorable work. His loss stings, and it’s hard not to think about that interview when you watch him in this one.