A murder mystery is always a good story. In the podcast “Serial,” it is more than just a story. Season one and two were just the beginning, and season three will be here Sept. 20.
“Serial” is a podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, who is investigating the murder of Hae Min Lee, a high school student who was strangled in 1999. Lee’s ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was charged with the murder, and is sentenced to life in prison plus thirty years.
The whole first season is about the investigation into Syed’s whereabouts on the day the crime occurred. Koenig saw this case and all of the uncertainties in it and, as a journalist, she went to investigate. Each week of the podcast, Koenig goes over a different piece that she has found or can plug into the puzzle.
According to CNN, the podcast was the fastest podcast ever to reach five million downloads, reaching that goal within a month of its release. “Serial” is one of the most-downloaded podcasts of all time.
Season two tells the story of Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier who left his post in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban for almost five years. The second season was not as hyped up as the first due to the prominent difference in subject matter. According to Koenig, however, the number of downloads were up by 50 million since the first season ended.
So, what is next? What do the producers of “Serial” have in store for their listeners?
This American Life, the creators of “Serial,” have decided to switch things up for season three. Instead of focusing on just one case, it has a different case each week.
According to Vulture, “The creators really wanted to focus on the topic of the American criminal justice system, and it is set inside the courts of Cleveland, Ohio.”
The team chose to make the change because viewers constantly asked, “so what does Syed’s case have to do with the American justice system?”
The answer was that it was a unique case. But the producers have now decided to explore the justice system using “ordinary” cases.
The trailer teases “a year inside the criminal justice courts in Cleveland, Ohio.”
“I don’t think we can understand how the criminal justice system works by interrogating one extraordinary case. Ordinary cases are where we’d need to look,” Koenig says in the trailer.
Related
What the Podcast “Caliphate” Will Teach You About Investigative Journalism
