New "Serial" Spin Off Podcast Will Continue To Follow Adnan Syed's Case

PBS – For some die-hard fans of Serial, the hit podcast by Sarah Koenig which told the story of Adnan Syed, the story never ended. The true crime narrative of a boy convicted of killing Hae Min Lee, his high school girlfriend, had plenty of real world evidence to pore over, including blogs by Rabia Chaudry, a lawyer and advocate for Syed. But for others, when the podcast ended, the story ended. “They’re still intrigued, they still want to know more,” Chaudry told the NewsHour. “They want Serial to do updates, and Serial isn’t. So we will.” “Undisclosed: The State v. Adnan Syed” is a new podcast produced by Chaudry in conjunction with two other lawyers, Susan Simpson and Colin Miller. The first episodewill premiere on April 13. Chaudry said the new podcast will be an investigation of the case rather than a narrative, as Serial was. She described it as partly new information about the case and partly new analysis of things we already know from Serial. “Susan and Colin have been taking a closer look, and with their own private investigator, continuing the investigation,” Chaudry said. With “Undisclosed,” the lawyers hope to address some things Serial didn’t, and in some cases, correct some of the things it got wrong. That includes evidence relating to Syed’s whereabouts during the murder as determined by cell towers, something Koenig pored over extensively in several episodes. This evidence was used to place Syed at the park where Lee’s body was found. “We’ve gotten so much feedback from cell experts saying, ‘That’s wrong,’ that it’s just impossible to pinpoint,” Chaudry said. “It makes for great storytelling, but we have to get to the truth.” Besides addressing the specifics of Syed’s case, the podcast will also provide listeners with a larger perspective, like what was going on in the community at the time, what Adnan was going through and what the lawyers’ own perspective was at the time. “There are serious questions about the process, about the criminal justice system, about how prosecutors conduct themselves, and all of these things should be looked at,” Chaudry said. The podcast will be co-hosted by Simpson, Miller and Chaudry, and each episode will run about thirty minutes. At this point, they’re unsure of how many episodes the series will span.

For diehard fans of the Serial podcast and the millions of people who became enthralled with the Hae Min Lee/Adnan Syed murder case, this is good news. There’s a lot of people out there who want to hear more about this case and thankfully it seems like Undisclosed will address a lot of the so called “evidence” that investigators and Serial got flat out wrong. But this podcast is 100% going to be pro-Adnan, as Rabia Chaudry is the biggest Syed advocate on the planet. Although Sarah Koenig was clearly pro Adnan as well, I thought Serial did a good enough job of presenting the opposite side of the argument to at least allow you to draw your own conclusions. With Chaudry at the helm, this podcast is 100% going to be “Here’s why Adnan didnt do it.” You can literally hear the bias in her voice every time she speaks, which is annoying. If you thought Koenig was skewed towards Adnan’s side, Rabia Chaudry will blow you out of the water. Susan Simpson is a little more level headed. She’s never said anything condemning Adnan but she at least tries to be even keeled. Any of the smart, solid arguments disproving Adnan as the culprit you’ve ever heard probably originated from her blog.

So if you’re #TeamJay this podcast probably isnt for you. Namely because its probably going to disprove the case against Adnan and leave you saying “But he was the ex-boyfriend!” like an idiot. But if you’re pro-Adnan or just interested in hearing more of the facts of the case – and more importantly, disproving a lot of the “facts” Serial originally established – I think Undisclosed is going to be a good listen. They run a real danger of getting torn to shreds if they’re not impartial enough. Hope theres at least some effort to keep it objective. And part of me thinks Serial was lightning in a bottle and people are already on to Robert Durst and a million other stories and forms of entertainment and dont actually care about who killed Hae. They’ve already moved on. But theres definitely that sect of people who were consuming all sorts of other reports and discussions about the investigation and what really happened who are going to love this.