Jharrel Jerome lobbied for an audition while he was busy filming Mr. Mercedes (2017), for which he had grown a beard. With the beard, he was afraid he would be considered too old to play the younger Korey, and he fully expected that the project would cast two different actors to play the part at different ages. After finishing Mr. Mercedes, he shaved his beard and auditioned again. Ava DuVernay was so impressed by both his audition, and how much his facial hair aged him, that she cast him as Korey at both ages.
Since the release of this series, there has been a great backlash against the actual former prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, which has caused her to resign from the board of alma mater at Vassar College. Additionally, her publisher, ICM Partners, has severed ties with her. In response, Fairstein posted an article in the Wall Street Journal, which outlined all the discrepancies from the actual trial.
Due to the sordid and distressful nature of the material, the production budget provided on-call crisis counselors for anybody in need of emotional appeasement during or after the daily shoots.
In March 2020, Linda Fairstein, the actual former prosecutor, sued Netflix and Ava DuVernay for defamation.
Based on the 1989 true story of the Central Park jogger rape case of Trisha Meili. Five boys dubbed the "Central Park Five" were falsely accused and prosecuted for a crime they didn't commit.