Now titled The Night Of, James Gandolfini’s dormant passion project Criminal Justice has been given a new lease of life at HBO, and a summer premiere date to boot.
Pitched as an eight-part series, the ensemble drama has been collecting dust on the shelf since the actor’s tragic passing three years ago. There have been some fleeting signs of life, though, particularly when Robert De Niro flirted with the idea of replacing Gandolfini, before backing out of Criminal Justice six months later.
In his steed, John Turturro will take point for HBO’s procedural drama, and the actor is one of the few stars that have remained attached to the project over the years – Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp, Payman Maadi, and Poorna Jagannathan are among that nuclear cast. But during the creative overhaul, the network has beefed up the show’s ensemble quite considerably, enlisting the likes of Michael K. Williams, Glenne Headly, Ben Shenkman and The Sopranos star Max Casella.
Also starring in HBO’s revamped New York crime case are Amara Karan, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Paul Sparks, Afton Williamson, Paulo Costanzo, Ned Eisenberg, Mohammad Bakri, Nabil Elouahabi, Ashley Thomas, Glenn Fleshler and Chip Zien.
Out of respect for his involvement in the drama during its formative years, James Gandolfini will be listed as an executive producer on Criminal Justice – now known as The Night Of – when the procedural drama finally leaps from development onto HBO in the summer.
