(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you haven’t watched the finale of “The Night Of” on HBO)
“The Night Of” kept fans riveted right up until the show’s Sunday finale, which offered a mostly satisfying ending for Riz Ahmed‘s character, Nasir Khan. But the actor told TheWrap that producers toyed with other possible outcomes for the HBO limited series.
“There were a couple of possible endings and I won’t disclose what they were, but we went through a couple of different versions and I think the final pick was the best,” Ahmed told TheWrap on Friday. “It’s like this bittersweet ending, it’s the same but not quite the same for Naz. It was this bittersweet survival story.”
“The Night Of” followed Nasir Khan, who after stealing his father’s taxicab for a night in Manhattan picks up a girl named Andrea and ends up drugged up and having sex with her. A few hours later, he wakes up with no recollection of what happened in the previous few hours, but finds the girl stabbed to death on her bed.
Charged with the murder, Naz gets sent to Rikers Island, where he is forced to leave his old self behind and adapt to his new surroundings to survive.
Throughout the 10-part series, viewers watched Naz transform from a naive Pakistani-American teenager to a charged drugged-up criminal with tattoos and a shaved head.
“It was a grueling process in terms of the physical transformation,” Ahmed added. “I was going to the gym at 10:30 or 11 p.m. at night and doing these intense workouts and then sleeping for four hours and then going back to shoot. We didn’t wait for the body transformation. But mentally, it was interesting because you see Naz letting go of who he was and embracing his surroundings to survive.”
When the jury became deadlocked during its deliberations and was unable to make a decision, prosecutor Helen Weiss (Jeannie Berlin) declared that the state would not continue to prosecute Naz.
The ending of “The Night Of” left many satisfied but yet unsatisfied as Naz was set free — but wasn’t cleared of the murder of Andrea — and we still don’t know who actually committed the crime. It was an incomplete victory for Naz because he hadn’t been acquitted.
Ahmed added that one of the show’s other main characters, Jack Stone, played by John Turturro, also found redemption in the series finale.
“Stone himself had a great ending” because he came to terms with his anxiety by finding dignity in himself, learning to live with his eczema, “and living with the cat,” Ahmed explained.
And seeing as “The Night Of” was always intended to be a miniseries, fans can’t expect a second season.
“It was a grueling shoot so by the time we finished, we were ready to get some rest,” Ahmed said about the show’s conclusion.
'The Night Of': Who's Who in HBO's Crime Drama (Photos)
"The Night Of," HBO's summer crime drama, is based on the British series "Criminal Justice." As we head into the finale, here are the big names you should remember.
Spoiler alert! Don't read on if you haven't yet seen the show.
Nasir "Naz" Khan is a shy, tentative Pakistani-American who attends college in New York. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would wind up accused of extreme violence. Or he didn't at the start of all this mess -- since being accused of murdering Andrea Cornish and getting locked up at Rikers island awaiting trial, Naz has bulked up, shaved his head and has participated in several incidents of prison violence.
Salim and Safar Khan (Peyman Moaadi and Poorna Jagannathan)
Naz's parents are hardworking immigrants. Salim drives a taxi that Naz sometimes borrows for his own personal use. When the story opens, he's using his dad's taxi to drive to a party in the city. Now the taxi is the property of the state, dad is a food delivery guy and mom is a janitor because nobody will give her better work.
Thinking his taxi is for hire, the mysterious Andrea climbs in back, leading to what essentially amounts to a long first date. The pair then head back to her place. After a night of drinking, drugs and sex, Andreea ends up dead -- but Naz doesn't know why.
Trevor (J.D. Williams)
He and a friend ran into Naz and Andrea outside Andrea's swanky house, directs some racial slurs at Naz, then continues on. The man he was with has become of particular interest. Speaking of which...
Duane Reade (Charlie Hudson III)
... this guy, who glares back at Andrea's porch as she and Naz walk up the steps. Why the hard stare? We're not sure. It turns out this guy, who has the same name as a ubiquitous NYC drug store, has a rap sheet as long as his arm, which might just be important.
Neighbor (Steven Randazzo)
During the night, some weird things happen in and around Andrea's apartment. And witnessing some of them is this guy, who just happens to peel back the curtain at opportune moments.
Det. Dennis Box (Dennis Camp)
Naz wakes up in a lot of trouble - we will leave out the details here - and pretty soon is facing Det. Box, a tough, no-nonsense veteran cop who serves as Naz's introduction to the criminal justice system. Box goes in hard on Naz -- never looking at any other suspects -- though he may be looking deeper as we approach this story's conclusion.
Here is Naz's defense attorney - an ambulance-chasing, eczema-suffering legal hack who's nevertheless the only thing standing between Naz and serious jail time. His advice? Naz should answer every question with: "I dunno - ask my lawyer."
This is the elegant attorney who offers to represent Naz for free, although her motives were pretty much just about getting a quick plea deal and adding another name to her list of humanitarian efforts. When Naz decide to reject the deal, Alison pulled out of the case and directed one of her firm's fresh-faced baby lawyers to take over.
Chandra (Amara Karan)
The idealistic young woman who takes over Naz's defense when Alison petulantly pulls out. She may be at this point the only one who actually thinks Naz is innocent, which has led to some sexual tension with some part of Naz still clinging to what his life was like before.
A well connected inmate at Rikers, Freddy brings Naz under his wing because they're both from Queens. Though Naz has been protected, his association with Freddy has also led to his involvement in prison crime, including a murder.
Don Taylor (Paul Sparks)
Andrea's stepdad, and really the only character on the show who, thus far, has a clearly established motive for her murder: now that she's dead, Don gets all her stuff, including that incredibly expensive house.
Helen Weiss (Jeannie Berlin)
The prosecutor at Naz's trial, Hellen is hard-nosed and took it as a personal insult when Naz wouldn't take the plea deal she'd arranged with Alison Crowe.
Hearse driver (Esau Pritchett)
In the first episode, this guy took exception when Andrea tossed her cigarette next to the pump at a gas station. But when Chandra found him later, it turned out he had a whole bunch of weird, unsettling opinions about Andrea beyond just being irritated about the cigarette -- making him, to Chandra and Jack Stone at least, a solid suspect.
Victim, alleged perp, cops, lawyers – they’re all here in this summer nail-biter
"The Night Of," HBO's summer crime drama, is based on the British series "Criminal Justice." As we head into the finale, here are the big names you should remember.
Spoiler alert! Don't read on if you haven't yet seen the show.
