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50 free Oz (HBO) trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Before The Sopranos, before The Wire, HBO's first one-hour drama was a prison show set in a glass-walled experimental unit called Emerald City. Tom Fontana wrote almost all of it, had the show's logo tattooed on his arm on camera for the opening credits, and filled Oswald State Correctional Facility with actors who would go on to anchor Law & Order, Lost, Whiplash, 30 Rock and the Allstate 'Mayhem' ads. These 50 questions cover the series from its 1997 premiere to the 2003 finale: the factions of Em City, the narrator in the wheelchair, the unit manager, the warden, the nun-psychologist played by an EGOT winner, the bartender and the diner waiter Fontana wrote parts for, the actor written out to go film The Mummy Returns, the two episodes directed by a cast member, and the show's awards record. Questions focus on the people, the production and the places rather than the violence. Easy questions stick to the network, the setting and the biggest names; the hard tier asks about CableACE awards, guest stars and which nine regulars survived all six seasons. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Oz was created and principally written by whom?
Tom Fontana
He had previously run Homicide: Life on the Street for NBC.
Q 02Oz holds what distinction in HBO's history?
Its first one-hour drama series
It premiered in July 1997, a year and a half before The Sopranos.
Q 03In what year did Oz premiere?
1997
It ran for six seasons, ending in February 2003.
Q 04How many seasons did Oz run?
6
The full run totalled 56 episodes.
Q 05'Oz' is the nickname of which fictional prison?
Oswald State Correctional Facility
It is a level 4 maximum-security prison in an unnamed East Coast state, implied to be New York.
Q 06The experimental wing where most of the show is set is called what?
Emerald City
Both the prison's nickname and the unit's name nod to L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz.
Q 07Which unit manager runs Em City with an emphasis on rehabilitation?
Tim McManus
Em City is deliberately balanced between racial and social groups to ease tensions.
Q 08Who is the warden of Oz?
Leo Glynn
Ernie Hudson played him for all six seasons.
Q 09Which inmate serves as the show's narrator?
Augustus Hill
Harold Perrineau's character delivers context, thematic analysis and humor from a wheelchair.
Q 10Who played the show's narrator?
Harold Perrineau
He went on to play Michael Dawson on Lost and Sheriff Boyd Stevens on From.
Q 11How did the show's narrator end up in a wheelchair?
Police threw him off a roof
It happened during a 1995 SWAT raid after he shot an officer.
Q 12Which Oz gang is led by Schillinger?
The Aryan Brotherhood
Its other named members in Em City include Robson and Mack.
Q 13Who played Vern Schillinger?
J. K. Simmons
He later won an Oscar for Whiplash and played Dr. Emil Skoda across the Law & Order franchise.
Schillinger insists his surname be pronounced how?
Q 21The creator wrote the part of Ryan O'Reily for its actor after meeting him where?
Working as a bartender
Winters appeared in all 56 episodes.
Q 22The actor behind O'Reily later became famous as which insurance-ad character?
Mayhem
The Allstate campaign began in 2010, the same year Tina Fey brought him back to 30 Rock.
Q 23Who played the Nigerian inmate Simon Adebisi?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
He later played Mr. Eko on Lost.
Q 24Adebisi was killed off in season four so his actor could film which movie?
With a hard G
Mispronouncing it as 'Schillin-jur' is a running gag on the show.
Q 15Who played the Harvard-educated lawyer Tobias Beecher?
Lee Tergesen
He had met Tom Fontana years earlier while waiting tables at New York's Empire Diner.
Q 16Beecher was sent to Oz for what crime?
Drunk-driving manslaughter
He refused a plea deal that would have meant minimum security, and got 15 years in maximum security instead.
Q 17How many regular characters survived the entire run of Oz?
9
They included Beecher, Rebadow, O'Reily, Alvarez, Poet, Sister Pete, McManus, Father Mukada and Dr. Nathan.
Q 18Who played the sociopathic Chris Keller?
Christopher Meloni
He played Keller and SVU's Elliot Stabler simultaneously until Oz ended in 2003.
Q 19Which Law & Order spin-off did Meloni star in while still appearing on Oz?
Special Victims Unit
He played Elliot Stabler on both shows at once until Oz was cancelled.
Q 20Who played the Irish schemer Ryan O'Reily?
Dean Winters
He later became Allstate's 'Mayhem' and Dennis Duffy on 30 Rock.
The Mummy Returns
He played Lock-Nah in the 2001 sequel.
Q 25How many lines did Adebisi have in the Oz pilot?
2
Fontana liked the performance so much the character was a lead by the end of season one.
Q 26Adebisi led which Em City faction?
The Homeboys
Other members named in the show include Wangler, Redding, Poet and Keane.
Q 27Which British actor played Muslim leader Kareem Saïd?
Eamonn Walker
He won the inaugural CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for the first season.
Q 28Who played Warden Leo Glynn?
Ernie Hudson
Ghostbusters' Winston Zeddemore; his son Ernie Hudson Jr. also appeared on the show.
Q 29Which EGOT-winning actress played the nun-psychologist Sister Peter Marie?
Rita Moreno
She won several ALMA Awards for the role.
Q 30Who played Em City's idealistic unit manager?
Terry Kinney
He also directed two episodes, 'Cruel and Unusual Punishments' and 'Wheel of Fortune'.