''I Am the Night'' is a six-episode American limited television series created and written by Sam Sheridan, starring

Chris Pine Chris Pine (born August 26, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' reboot film series (2009–present), Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films ''Wonder Woman'' (2017) and ''Won ...

and

India Eisley India Joy Eisley (born October 29, 1993) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ashley Juergens in the ABC Family television series ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'', Eve in the 2012 film '' Underworld: Awakening'', Sawa ...

. The series premiered on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

on January 28, 2019, with a sneak peek of the first episode airing on January 27, 2019. The series is inspired by the memoir '' One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel'', written by

Fauna Hodel Fauna Hodel (August 1, 1951 – September 30, 2017) was an American author and motivational speaker, who wrote the true-crime memoir '' One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel'', documenting her unusual beginnings and th ...

, documenting her unusual beginnings and the connection to her grandfather,

George Hodel George Hill Hodel Jr. (October 10, 1907 – May 17, 1999) was an American physician and suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. He was never formally charged with the crime. He was also accused of raping his daughter, Tamar ...

, a prime suspect in the infamous

Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...

murder mystery. A companion true-crime podcast, '' Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia'' was released in February 2019.

Plot

, a young girl given up by her birth mother, sets out to uncover the secrets of her past and ends up following a sinister trail that swirls closer to a gynecologist involved in the legendary

slaying.

Cast

as Jay Singletary, a disgraced LA-based journalist and Korean War veteran who encounters Fauna Hodel as he investigates her grandfather, George Hodel. *

, who has grown up believing she's biracial but she begins investigating the truth about her biological mother and father. *

Jefferson Mays Lewis Jefferson Mays (born June 8, 1965) is an American actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Obie A ...

, Fauna's grandfather, a prominent, powerful, and dangerous LA-based physician who was a suspect in the Black Dahlia murder. *

Connie Nielsen Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen (born 3 July 1965) is a Danish actress. She has starred as Lucilla in the film '' Gladiator'' (2000) and as Hippolyta in the DC Extended Universe, and in the films ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), ''Justice League'' (2017), ''Wo ...

as Corinna Hodel, George Hodel's now divorced second wife. *

Leland Orser Leland Jones Orser (born August 6, 1960) is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous film and television roles, notably as Lucien Dubenko in the television series '' ER'' (2004–2009) and Sam Gilroy in the '' Taken'' film series (2008–20 ...

as Peter Sullivan, Jay Singletary's editor and mentor. *

Yul Vazquez Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in ''Runaway Bride (film), Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds (2005 film), War of the Worlds'' (2005), ''American Gangster ...

as Billis, a LAPD sergeant detective known for his brutal tactics. *

Jay Paulson Joseph Andrew "Jay" Hughes Paulson is an American actor. Personal life Paulson was born in New York City, where he lived until 1984, when his father moved the family to Los Angeles. Paulson graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in History and is a li ...

as Ohls, an LAPD detective and a Korean War vet who owes his life to Jay. *

Golden Brooks Golden Brooks is an American actress. She began her career with starring role in the Showtime comedy series, ''Linc's'' (1998–2000), and later has appeared in films ''Timecode'' (2000) and ''Impostor'' (2001). From 2000 to 2008, Brooks st ...

as Jimmie Lee Greenwade, Fauna's adoptive mother who has kept Fauna's origins secret from her. * Theo Marshall as Detective Cuddy. *

Jamie Anne Allman Jamie Anne Allman (née Brown; born April 6, 1977) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Terry Marek on AMC's '' The Killing'', and Connie Riesler on the FX police drama ''The Shield''. Early life Allman grew up on a farm in Ka ...

as Tamar Hodel, George Hodel's daughter and Fauna's birth mother. * Monique Green as Nina, Fauna's cousin. * Shoniqua Shandai as Tina, Fauna's cousin who warns her about investigating her white family. *

Justin Cornwell Justin Michael Cornwell (born November 5, 1988) is an American actor, writer and musician best known for playing Young Jeronicus Jangle in the hit Netflix original movie '' Jingle Jangle,'' Marcus Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy and Kyle Craig ...

as Terrence Shye, a friend of the Lee family who takes a romantic interest in Fauna. * Dylan Smith as Sepp, George Hodel's right-hand man.

Episodes

Production

Development

On July 27, 2017, the US cable network

announced

would play the role of Jay Singletary in a six-episode television drama, ''One Day She'll Darken'', and serve as an executive producer alongside director

Patty Jenkins Patricia Lea Jenkins (born July 24, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. She has directed the feature films ''Monster'' (2003), ''Wonder Woman'' (2017), and ''Wonder Woman 1984'' (2020). For the film ''Monster'', she w ...

and writer Sam Sheridan. The drama was inspired by the autobiography of

titled '' One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel''. In late 2017, it was reported that

Carl Franklin Carl Franklin (born April 11, 1949) is an American filmmaker. Franklin is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and continued his education at the AFI Conservatory, where he graduated with an M.F.A. degree in directing in 1986. Earl ...

would direct two episodes and also serve as executive producer.

Victoria Mahoney Victoria Mahoney is an American actress and filmmaker. Her debut feature was 2011’s ''Yelling to the Sky''. Career Directing career Victoria Mahoney made her feature directing debut in 2011 with the semi-autobiographical film ''Yelling to ...

will also direct two episodes.

Director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Matthew Jensen joined the project in November 2017. The series was renamed ''I Am the Night'' and while originally announced to premiere on January 28, 2019, a sneak peek full airing of the pilot would be scheduled to follow

25th Screen Actors Guild Awards The 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2018, were presented on January 27, 2019 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was broadcast li ...

on the night before.

Casting

On October 13, 2017, TNT announced that

, Dylan Smith, Theo Marshall,

, and

had joined the cast.

, Shoniqua Shandai, and Monique Green were also later cast.

Marketing

TNT released the first trailer of the show on July 2, 2018. The premiere was screened at the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

's AFI Fest on November 9, 2018, at the

Egyptian Theatre Egyptian-style theatres are based on the traditional and historic design elements of Ancient Egypt. The first Egyptian Theatre to be constructed in the US – which inspired many of the identically-named theatres that followed it – was Graum ...

in Los Angeles, California.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 73% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.34/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Chris Pine inhabits ''I Am the Night'' with the roguish gravitas befitting a noir — even if this entry into the pulp genre is more straightforward and languidly paced than some viewers would like." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * {{TNTShows 2010s American drama television miniseries 2019 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings English-language television shows TNT (American TV network) original programming Television series about teenagers Television shows based on books Television series by Anonymous Content Television series by Studio T Television series set in the 1960s