The Night Of

HBO originally passed on the pilot. HBO later picked up the series after James Gandolfini and Steven Zaillian agreed to make a mini-series instead of an open-ended series. Gandolfini died suddenly a month later.

'The Night Of' is based on a British TV series that ran from 2008-09 called 'Criminal Justice'.

Robert De Niro stepped in to take over the role originally played by the late James Gandolfini in the pilot episode.When scheduling issues forced De Niro to drop out, John Turturro stepped into the role.