Serial podcast will get 2 new seasons

Serial, season 2 will début this Autumn, executive producer Sarah Koenig has confirmed, with season 3 following in Spring 2016.

The first season of the podcast which, questioned the conviction of High School student Adnan Syed for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, 17, became the most popular in history when it was released last year and has continued to fascinate millions since the 12-episode run ended last December.

In a newsletter to fans Koenig, a ‘This American Life’ producer and former Baltimore Sun reporter, confirmed that the podcast would return.

“We are hard at work reporting not one, but two distinct new stories. This means we’re planning on a third season of Serial,” Koenig wrote. “And we hope it means we can reduce the amount of time between the end of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three. As it stands, we intend to launch Season Two this fall and Season Three next spring.”

When it comes to the subject matter, she went on: “Sorry — we can’t tell you details about the new stories yet. What we can say is that they’re very different from Season One, but no less interesting to us.”

Its unclear though if this will continue to follow the case of Syed or will focus on new areas, however from Sarah’s language in the email, we’d say it was the latter.  While hugely popular, Koenig’s examination of the case has been criticised for not including key pieces of evidence or missing out interviews with important witnesses such as Jay Wilds the key witness for the defence, who declined an interview with the journalist. He’s since spoken to the Intercept about the podcast, where he hit out at Koenig for attacking his character: “I feel like she created an evil archetype of me and sensationalized my motives. It helped fan the flames of this story that people had already moved on from.”

Since the podcast was released, which not only questioned Syed’s guilt but also whether or not he received a fair trial, the convicted murder has been given permission to call an alibi witness, Asia Mclain, who has never before testified and include her new testimony in a petition for a new trail, which is currently pending in the appeals courts. Earlier this month the by the Maryland court of special appeals ordered the case to a lower court so the testimony of the witness can be recorded.

Asia Mclain and her claim that she saw Syed at a library at the very time when he was meant to have killed Hae Min Lee, according to the prosecution’s timeline, featured heavily in Serial.

The popularity of Serial has spawned huge discussion on Reddit and also produced a second Podcast series – Undisclosed. Rabia Chaudry, a lawyer and close friend on Syed’s who was the person who first got in touch with Koenig about the case and two lawyers Susan Simpson and Colin Miller, continue to look over the evidence against the convicted murder, though it has been confirmed it is completely independent from Serial.