‘The Night Of’ Season 2 Still a Possibility: John Turturro Says ‘Couple of Ideas’ Exist

Zack Sharf

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HBO viewers might not have seen the last of “The Night Of,” Richard Price and Steven Zaillian’s 2016 crime drama starring John Turturro and Riz Ahmed. Nearly two years after HBO programming president Casey Bloys told IndieWire at the 2018 TCAs that he was open to the idea of a second run, series star Turturro teased to Deadline that new episodes of “The Night Of” are still a possibility. The actor said at this year’s TCAs, “We have a couple of ideas but we have to sit down and discuss them, so we’re at that stage so that’s good.”

“Steve is a little bit like Larry David, he will come to us when he’s ready,” Bloys told IndieWire in 2018, referring to David’s habit of not springing a season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on HBO until he’s ready. “For a creative executive, that’s a nice feeling because if Steve is saying ‘I’ve got it,’ I know he has it. So we’re giving him his time and he’ll come to us when he’s found it.”

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“The Night Of” starred Turturro as lawyer John Stone, who gets mixed up in a case defending a Pakistani-American college student (Ahmed) accused of murdering a girl on the Upper West Side of New York City. A second season would presumably center around John Stone taking on a different case. The first run earned high critical acclaim and co-starred Michael K. Williams, Bill Camp, Jeannie Berlin, and Poorna Jagannathan. “The Night Of” also won five Emmys, including Riz Ahmed for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series.

Turturro has long wanted to reprise his John Stone character in a “Night Of” follow-up series. The actor told THR in August 2018, “I would be very interested because I felt that character offered something really rich. I’m hoping that that will come to fruition.” The original “Night Of” pilot was shot with “Sopranos” actor James Gandolfini in the leading role of John Stone, but the episode was reshot with Turturro after Gandolfini’s death.

In addition to being an Emmys powerhouse for HBO, “The Night Of” was also a ratings hit for the premium cable company. Over its eight episode first season, “The Night Of” increased its viewership nearly every week. The show began with just under one million viewers for its pilot and ended its season with just over two million viewers for the finale.

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