Poorna Jagannathan mourns The Night Of co-star Michael Kenneth Williams’ passing

Never Have I Ever star Poorna Jagannathan mourned the loss of her The Night Of co-star Michael K Williams. Poorna played Safar Khan in the eight-part HBO crime drama, which had Riz Ahmed in the lead and the late Michael as Freddy Knight, an influential prisoner at Rikers Island. The miniseries, about a Pakistan-American student accused of murdering a woman in New York, written by Richard Price and Steven Zailian (based on the original Criminal Justice plot by Peter Moffat), and directed by Zaillian and James Marsh, had got 13 Emmy nominations, including an Outstanding Supporting Actor nod for Michael.

Taking to social media with images from the premiere of The Night Of, Poorna wrote, “What an incredible loss for all of us. Michael was a whole lot of greatness, but his utter humility is what stayed with you. We were just about to work together again on something epic right before the pandemic hit and… Rest well.”

Michael K Williams passed away on Monday at his apartment in Brooklyn. The 54-year-old The Wire star was found dead by a relative, as per the New York Police. While the cause of death is yet to determined, several US media outlets claim that the actor’s well-documented substance abuse could be a factor.