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William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character in The Wire, played by Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore detective named Oscar Requer. He is portrayed as a generally competent, if profane and curmudgeonly detective. Like his best friend Jimmy McNulty, he also has problems related to infidelity and alcohol abuse, although he is more mindful than McNulty of the department's chain of command.
Although he tried to apologize for being upset, the casting staff felt his attitude was perfect for a stressed-out Baltimore homicide detective. Pierce was not aware of the rationale until much later. He described feeling somewhat indignant upon learning about it, but told Abrams, "The fact that I would bring it up in the middle of a major audition shows some gumption on my part."
Lance Reddick, who was later cast as Cedric Daniels, was originally called in to audition for Moreland.
When Omar is at the police station, Bunk discovers they attended the same high school, beginning an ongoing association between the two. At Sergeant Jay Landsman's insistence, Bunk and McNulty review the Deirdre Kresson murder, which ultimately turns out to be related to the Barksdales and is solved as part of the final arrests of D'Angelo and Wee-Bey Brice.
The crew feign ignorance of the English language, and the detectives let the ship go after learning that two crewmen jumped ship after Baltimore. Based on a few sparse facts, Bunk and Freamon deduce that the women were being smuggled from overseas, that one of the girls was murdered by a sailor after refusing him sex, and the rest were killed for witnessing the crime. The murderer is one of the crewmen who fled, leaving the investigation at an impasse. Bunk and Freamon come under heavy criticism from Colonel William Rawls for releasing the ship without getting statements.
While working the port case, Bunk worries about the William Gant murder; State's Attorney Ilene Nathan threatens to drop the charges if the police cannot find Omar. Bunk repeatedly reminds McNulty, who eventually finds Omar with help from Greggs' confidential informant Bubbles. Omar testifies, and Bird is imprisoned for a maximum term. Later, Bunk and Russell return to Philadelphia and find video evidence implicating Sergei Malatov, whose testimony leads to the solving of the Jane Doe murders and aids the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into stevedore labor union treasurer Frank Sobotka.
Bunk meets with Omar and confronts him about the "innocent" victim. Omar informs Bunk that she was part of his crew and says he would never kill an innocent person. In response to Omar's statement that no one will talk to Bunk about the murder, and Tosha died in the game, Bunk makes Omar feel guilty about his negative influence on the world due to the collapse of West Baltimore. Bunk says that predators like Omar are all that still exist in their old neighborhood, which was once a community despite its hardships. To assuage this guilt, Omar finds Dozerman's gun and returns it to Bunk.
Later, Bunk is one of the investigators of Stringer Bell's murder. Bunk realizes Omar was the shooter but does not close the case. Afterward, he tells McNulty that the city's homicide rate will probably reach 300 by New Year's, noticing how McNulty has slowed down on his consumption of alcohol.
At the same time, Bunk is surprised at McNulty's seemingly successful attempts to get his life back on track. Omar contacts Bunk after Chris Partlow frames Omar for killing an innocent woman in a convenience store robbery. Bunk initially ignores him, but Omar appeals to his sense of honor. Bunk tracks down new evidence proving the witness in Omar's case, Old Face Andre, lied, leading to Omar's release. In exchange, Bunk extracts a promise from Omar to never kill again.
In the process, Bunk also manages to make an enemy out of Crutchfield, the detective assigned to the Andre case. Freamon transfers back to Homicide and is partnered with Bunk again. Freamon manages to find Lex's body and, in the process, more than 20 other bodies, all of which are linked to Stanfield after Bunk gets key testimony from Lex's mother.
Bunk refocuses his attention on the Stanfield murders and delivers a report to Landsman that is placed immediately into a desk drawer. Landsman points out that Bunk is simply changing the date while submitting essentially the same report. Bunk angrily asserts that he is forced to repeat his requests as he is still waiting for the crime lab to process evidence. Bunk finally gets a DNA match on Partlow for the unrelated murder of Michael Lee's stepfather, but agrees to delay his case in order to allow the Stanfield wiretap to continue. He is last seen investigating a homicide with Greggs, engaging in jovial conversation similar to that he used to share with McNulty.
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