In 2014, Serial became the first big water-cooler event podcast, a true-crime story about a murdered woman, her possibly guilty boyfriend, and a case that seemed mundane at first glance but was actually quite complex. At the center of it all was Adnan Syed, in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Hae Min Lee. The first season of Serial attempted to unlock the mysteries of this case, and ignited a number of internet debates.
Now, Adnan Syed’s story is getting a follow-up in the form of an HBO documentary series called The Case Against Adnan Syed.
As you can tell from the first trailer, the story of Lee and Syed is far from over. In fact, it’s still making its way through the Maryland courts system.
For those unfamiliar, Hae Min Lee was found dead in a park in Baltimore on February 9, 1999. After an anonymous tip, her boyfriend Adnan Syed was arrested for her murder. In 2000, after his first trial ended in a mistrial, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Syed has maintained a stance of innocence throughout the entire process, and the lack of evidence coupled with an alleged alibi made many listeners question his arrest and conviction.
The popularity of the podcast shed a major light on the case, and in 2015 the Maryland Court of Special Appeals filed a decision that allowed Syed to to appeal his conviction. The process that followed is documented in the four-part docuseries, which follows Lee and Syed’s families and friends as they go through the difficult process. Tensions are still fraught among everyone, with different parties and police maintaining Syed is guilty, while others painfully fight for his freedom.
Will The Case Against Adnan Syed provide any answers for the decades-old case? We’ll find out when it debuts on HBO starting March 10.
Images: HBO
