‘The Night Of’ finale: Riz Ahmed reacts to ending

On Sunday night “The Night Of” came to a close on HBO, and it did so with an ending that was in some ways ambiguous in how it tied together the case of Andrea Cornish. While Nasir Khan was released from prison after a deadlocked jury and Helen Weiss declining to pursue a new trial, we never had 100% confirmation that someone else killed the victim, either. Box began an investigation that led to Ray Halle, the CPA who John Stone met with earlier in the season, being his new lead suspect. He had a history with Andrea, and the two had an argument right before she got into Naz’s cab.

While the ending has generated much discussion on the internet, Entertainment Weekly spoke to the actor behind the role of Naz in Riz Ahmed and in the process, he shared his own unique perspective on how it all went down:

“…I think one of the themes of the show is that we all have it in us to be anyone. We all carry the same seeds within us, give or take. And in the right or wrong circumstances, depending on how you’re looking at it, we can adapt to survive. So does Naz have it in him to be a killer?”

We have certainly seen from this season that Naz does have this side of him, and he was also drunk and drugged out of his mind. Still, he was largely without a motive, and it’s feasible that Ray could have known how to enter her house and wait for a moment to strike against her. It’s also possible that he was in relative cahoots with the stepfather, given how much he had to gain financially by her death.