Michael K. Williams Died From Accidental Overdose, New York Medical Examiner Says

Michael K. Williams died earlier this month from “acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin and cocaine,” the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner said Friday. The CME has ruled the death accidental.

The determination comes after Williams, the five-time Emmy-nominated star of The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, 12 Years a Slave and most recently Lovecraft Country, was found dead in his Brooklyn, NY, home on Monday, September 6. He was 54 years old.

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A New York Police Department detective told Deadline at the time that Williams “was discovered deceased in an apartment located at 440 Kent Avenue today around 1400 hours. It’s an ongoing investigation and the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.”

The medical examiner’s office said today it would not comment further on the case.

Williams’ death sent shockwaves through the film and TV industry that he rose to fame in after playing Omar, a robber of drug dealers, on HBO’s The Wire. He followed with HBO’s Boardwalk Empire playing Chalky White, a bootlegger ally of Steve Buscemi’s crooked New Jersey politician Nucky Thompson.

Most recently, he was Emmy nominated this year for another HBO series, Lovecraft Country, on which he starred opposite Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett and Wunmi Mosaku. Several presenters and winners at Sunday’s ceremony tributed Williams during the ceremony, including Kerry Washington and The Crown‘s Tobias Menzies. Williams, despite being a frontrunner in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category, lost out to Menzies, who dedicated the award to him.

Before the Emmys, Smollett posted the following: “He was supposed to be here with us this week in LA for the Emmys. He was supposed to see how big [my son] Hunter is, we were gonna dance, celebrate, cry,” she wrote. “Instead our brother was laid to rest today.”

Jamie Foxx, a friend of Williams, remembered a night they spent together in New York, where Williams appeared in a fashion show. “We cheered because we knew you were special…fearlessness…Mystique,” Foxx Wrote. “And pure raw talent was before us.” The Oscar-winning Ray actor said he was always “in awe” of his friend.

Williams was also Emmy-nominated for HBO’s Bessie and The Night Of as well as for producing Raised in the System, a docuseries he also starred in about the American mass incarceration of juveniles. His film credits include The Road, Snitch, The Gambler, The Land, Assassin’s Creed, The Public and Motherless Brooklyn.

The actor was laid to rest in Pennsylvania on September 15.

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