Whether or not you believed Adnan Syed (above, then and now) killed his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999, you’re going to want to tune into this. Syed has new representation now and there’s a court hearing happening this week and guess who’s showing up to the deliberations? Serial host Sarah Koenig, but of course. Even though she’s smack in the middle of producing and delivering the second season of the hugely popular and critically acclaimed investigative podcast, Koenig and her producing partner in crime Dana Chivvis are pulling double duty to reel listeners back into new developments in Syed’s ongoing case.
As new evidence is presented at the hearing in Baltimore, Koenig and Chivvis will produce new mini-episodes to deliver and discuss the updates with listeners still invested in Syed’s future. Remember the “Asia letters” from way back when? Well, it turns out Syed’s attorney was able to get Asia McClain to testify in Syed’s defense! This is a major coup for him because if you remember it was in those letters that McClain claimed she was with Adnan at the library at the time Hae was murdered. This and more is discussed in the first of three Serial Season 1: Update episodes available for your consumption right here, right now.
In other Serial news, in case you haven’t been made aware yet, the release schedule for season 2 has been tweaked significantly. Click after the break to learn more.
The new season, which shines a light on the mystery behind U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl abandoning his post and venturing into hostile territory, is now being rolled out on a biweekly basis.
“There are more paths we need to go down,” executive producer Julie Snyder told the New York Times. “Since we started broadcasting the show, we have gotten more people willing to talk, and because of that, it has opened up more avenues of reporting.”
Koenig and co. envisioned prepping, producing, and streaming 8-10 episodes for season 2. Thanks in part to the additional “avenues of reporting,” the Serial team will end up delivering more installments than originally planned.
With a third season in the pipeline, too, there’s much Serial to go around. The cultural phenomenon that sparked interest in real crime investigative journalism (see: The Jinx, Making a Murderer) is just getting started.