The Case Against Adnan Syed
A docuseries revisiting Adnan Syed's murder case and its aftermath.
The Case Against Adnan Syed is a 2019 true crime docuseries directed by Amy J. Berg and produced by Working Title Television. It examines the murder conviction of Adnan Syed for the killing of Hae Min Lee, a case that later saw the conviction vacated and subsequently reinstated. The four-part series premiered on HBO on March 10, 2019, with a follow-up episode airing on September 18, 2025.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Documentary; True crime
- Director
- Amy J. Berg
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 1
- Episodes
- 5
- Producer
- Paul McGuire
- Ruchi Mital
- Jenna Cedicci
- Dana Kuznetzkoff
- Editor
- Alex Keipper; Amir Mosallaie
Facts from the source article.
Background
Following the success of Serial season 1, HBO commissioned a documentary series that recapped the case and included new information about Syed's appeal. The four-part documentary reviewed the case as it stood in 2018. It revealed that Syed had rejected a plea bargain that year, which would have required a guilty plea for a reduced sentence. Shortly after, his mother told him she had leukemia. A fifth episode, filmed from 2021 and originally slated for 2023, premiered on HBO on September 18, 2025.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an 81% approval rating from 32 reviews, with the critical consensus calling it a worthy but flawed supplement to Serial that fleshes out Hae Min Lee's life. Metacritic assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews. Aja Romano of Vox argued the docuseries had a pro-Syed bias and an agenda, though its creators described it as objective. The series earned a 2019 Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program for the episode "Forbidden Love" and a Cinema Eye Honors nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Series for Broadcast.
More in Television Series by Working Title Television
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