When HBO originally ordered The Night Of, it anticipated that the legal series would last only one season. But that was before The Night Of became one of the hit shows of the summer, receiving critical raves and having its ratings steadily improve as the season went on, peaking with over two million viewers for the finale. Unsurprisingly, given that the show is a hit, there have been rumors that HBO might reverse course and order a second season. But unlike most shows, there is no obvious path for The Night Of to take in a hypothetical second season. Here are some ideas of what that season could entail (this column will contain spoilers through the finale).
Continuing the Investigation of Andrea Cornish’s Murder – As I wrote about last week, The Night Of left the resolution of Andrea’s death ambiguous. In the finale, Detective Box — after testifying against Naz — became convinced that Andrea was murdered by her financial advisor Ray Halle. But while the show strongly hinted that Ray was indeed the killer, it was far from definitive.
Accordingly, Season 2 of The Night Of could pick up right where the first season ended. Detective Box could continue to work the case, and Helen Weiss could continue to prosecute it. Ray is played by Paulo Costanzo, who was one of the stars of the former USA show Royal Pains. It would be hard to match Riz Ahmed’s performance as the main accused, but at least The Night Of has already hired a veteran actor. However, I seriously doubt that The Night Of would go down this road; it would just be a retread of the first season, and it would be difficult to have as compelling a show without Ahmed or John Turturro.
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A New Case with John Stone – Continuing John’s story will not be easy either. Viewers (including me) are very tired of the saga of John’s foot eczema. And given that this is not Suits and conflicts of interests in law do exist, I doubt that John would deign to represent Ray (yes, when I write again about Suits in a couple weeks, I will be addressing that scene).
The Night Of could pivot and depict John as he takes on a new case that does not include any of the other characters from Season 1 (except, of course, the cat). John repeatedly stated that Naz is not his typical client; he normally trawls jailhouses for potential clients charged with low-level crimes that he can plead out. A show centered on John could thus be an anthology, each episode depicting a defense of a different low-level crime.
A New Story – Because The Night Of is a critique of the American justice system, characters such as John and Naz are less important than that theme. Accordingly, creators Richard Price and Steven Zaillian could attack a new aspect of the justice system. Perhaps a large-stakes civil litigation (it might be difficult to make that fit with the title, but something could happen at night, right). Or perhaps an exploration of an aspect of the legal world that the public may not be as familiar with, such as FISA courts. Or, given that The Night Of is based on the BBC show Criminal Justice, it could take the plot of the second season of that show, in which a woman is arrested for the murder of her husband. If Price and Zallian want some continuity with the first season, perhaps Biglaw attorney Alison Crowe could show up.
Check-In with Naz – I do not know if there is enough story to fill an entire season, but an exploration of Naz’s life after the murder trial could be a subplot in any of the above ideas.
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As the finale suggested, Naz is not going to have a very easy time assimilating back into society. He has a drug problem. He has obtained several prison tattoos, including the words “sin” and “bad” on his fingers (and not because he is a fan of the 1996 film First Kid). Perhaps most importantly, he is being treated like a leper, with members of the public assuming he is a murderer. And a check-in with Naz would allow Ahmed to continue his strong performance (though for those who cannot wait to get their Ahmed fix, he is one of the stars of the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).
The Story of the Cat – One of the most puzzling aspects of The Night Of was the amount of screentime given to Andrea’s cat, who was later adopted by John. The cat seemingly received more screen time than many members of the recurring cast (the cat’s agent must be Kal Penn’s character from New Girl). Thus, a show that basically just includes the cat doing funny things would probably receive over a million viewers a week and, to my chagrin, will probably out-rate Mr. Robot.
Earlier: Standard Of Review: The Night Before The Week Starts, Watch HBO Miniseries ‘The Night Of’
Standard Of Review: Evaluating The Attorneys Of ‘The Night Of’
Standard Of Review: Liking, But Not Loving, ‘The Night Of’
Beyond Biglaw: Lessons From ‘The Night Of’ (Part 1)
Beyond Biglaw: Lessons From ‘The Night Of’ (Part 2)
Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at [email protected]. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.