When journalist NPR, This American Life, and Sarah Koenig debuted the critically acclaimed podcastSerial in 2014, true-crime fans became fixated on the homicide case of Hae Min Lee. Now HBO will revisit the murder and Syed's imprisonment in the upcoming four-part docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed.
The renewed interest that the podcast created around Syed's case has prompted a retrial. Based on the trailer, it's also suggested that the filmmakers unveiled new evidence that wasn't discovered during the Serial run.
The trailer shows Rabia Chaudry, one of Syed's childhood friends and a frequent interviewee in the original podcast, explaining her suggestion that she and Syed go to the media to tell their story. “When you are working on a case...you’re only on one side, and that side is getting to the truth,” she says. “I’ve been saying, ‘Adnan, we should go to media, we should go to journalists, ’cause they can do things we can’t do.’”
On a phone call from prison, Syed says, "I know there are things that don't look good for me."
The body of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee was discovered in Leakin Park in Baltimore, Maryland in 1999. Lee was Syed's ex-girlfriend, leading to his arrest that same year and conviction in 2000. Syed has since claimed he was wrongfully convicted, and the evidence used to place him at the scene where Lee's body was found remains unreliable. After Sarah Koenig uncovered additional details related to the homicide, Syed's case was re-opened with a re-trial issued in 2016. It's unclear when the Maryland Court of Appeals will issue their decision.
