 In season five, Wise is briefly shown when Michael Lee, looking out for his friend Duquan "Dukie" Weems, drops him off to train with Cutty.Cutty watches Dukie fight and, seeing his ineptitude as a boxer, tells him that he has other talents and tries to inspire him to leave Baltimore, though he ultimately admits that he himself, despite having reformed, doesn't know how to get out.George Pelecanos is given credit with creating the character of Dennis Wise, based on unused notes from his novel "Drama City", about a man getting out of prison after almost two decades.