New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

If you’re still mourning the end of HBO’s series “The Wire,” listen up. After exploring crime, corruption and the death of the American Dream in Baltimore, creator David Simon took a little trip down South to take a similarly unflinching look at life in post-Katrina New Orleans.

His new project, “Treme,” is set a mere three months after one of the worst natural disasters in American history and follows a group of regular folks — musicians, cooks and the like — as they attempt to pick up the pieces. (For the record, the series is named for the neighborhood of Faubourg Tremé, a longtime center of African-American and Creole culture.) We already know from news reports and documentaries like Spike Lee’s masterpiece “When the Levees Broke” that doing so was much easier said than done. We also know that New Orleans is still reeling from the storm’s effects nearly five years after the fact.  Fans of “The Wire” should expect a steady stream of outrage at the powers that be over the situation. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a couple of sarcastic “Brownie” references in the premiere, in fact. This is heavy material, but for all his seriousness, Simon’s previous work showed a surprisingly light touch at times — this is a guy responsible for a subplot involving the attempts of two bumbling cops to use an inanimate object as a confidential informant, after all.

Simon’s new cast also features a few actors from his previous series. Actors Wendell Pierce (Bunk) and Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon) appeared on “The Wire,” and Khandi Alexander starred in the HBO miniseries “The Corner.” Of course, you can expect half the cast of “Homicide: Life on the Street” to show up at some point. We’ll find out for sure when “Treme” premieres on April 11 — which gives me about three months to clear out my DVR.