“Serial” will return with a second season this fall, and a third season is in the works, too.
Sarah Koenig, the host and executive producer of the hit podcast, sent an email newsletter to subscribers this week announcing the fall return, as well as an anticipated Season 3 premiere the following spring.
“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.”
Koenig stopped short at revealing any information about what the “distinct new stories” will be about.
“Sorry – we can’t tell you details about the new stories yet,” Koenig continued. “What we can say is that they’re very different from Season One, but no less interesting to us.”
The first 12-episode season of “Serial” explored the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 17-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was found guilty of the murder and given a life prison sentence. After “Serial” concluded, however, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals filed a decision allowing Syed to appeal his conviction.
“Serial” was honored with a 2014 Peabody Award for being “an audio game-changer.”
During the podcast, Syed argued that his trial attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, botched his case in several ways, mainly by failing to speak to Asia McClaim, a potential alibi that would show Syed somewhere else when Min Lee was murdered. He has never admitted to the murder and has amassed a large swath of supporters seeking his release.