It: Chapter Two and The Wire star James Ransone has died aged 46.
According to The Guardian, the Los Angeles medical examiner indicated Ransone died on Friday from suicide. The New York Post reported that official records show the cause of death was listed as “hanging,” while his place of death was listed as “shed.”
The American actor is best-known for playing Chester ‘Ziggy’ Sobotka in 12 episodes of the second season of David Simon’s critically acclaimed Baltimore crime drama, The Wire. More recently, he played adult Eddie Kaspbrak in It: Chapter Two. Ransone also played the Deputy in Blumhouse’s supernatural horror films Sinister 1 (2012) and 2 (2015), and Max in 2021’s The Black Phone. In 2008 HBO war drama mini-series Generation Kill, Ransone played real life marine Cpl. Josh Ray Person opposite Alexander Skarsgård.
Ransone’s wife, Jamie McPhee, took to social media to pay tribute. “I told you I have loved you 1,000 times before and I know I will love you again,” she wrote. “You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right. Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack [their 6-year-old son] and Violet [their 4-year-old daughter]. We are forever.”
In 2021, the Baltimore Sun reported that Ransone said he was sexually abused by a former tutor who worked in Maryland public schools. He wrote on Instagram that the abuse was a factor in his alcohol and heroin addictions. Ransone later said he had reported the allegations to Baltimore County police in March 2020, but was told by a detective that prosecutors had no interest in pursuing the matter further.
Tributes were paid online by former and current colleagues, as well as HBO and Blumhouse. “Rest In Peace To My Dear Brother, Mr. James Ransone. We Rocked Together On Red Hook Summer And Inside Man,” director Spike Lee posted on Instagram.
In loving memory of James Ransone. pic.twitter.com/7CKjnAnrCD
— HBO (@HBO) December 21, 2025
We are saddened by the passing of James Ransone. We are grateful to have worked with him on The Black Phone and Sinister movies.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones. pic.twitter.com/zUvPTcLJqe— Blumhouse (@blumhouse) December 21, 2025
Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Baker, who worked with Ransone on Tangerine and Starlet, wrote: “I’ll miss you dearly, my friend.” “Sorry I couldn’t be there for you, brother. Rest in Peace James Ransone,” Ransone’s The Wire co-star, Wendell Pierce, said.
In 2016, Ransone told Interview magazine he would “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,” he said. “As a result of that I don’t always feel good.”
If you are having suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in the U.S. is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255. A list of international suicide hotlines can be found here.
Photo by Gary Gershoff/WireImage.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
