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(Though Syeds original conviction was overturned in 2016, a new trial has been delayed by state appeals.
Last week marked the 20th anniversary of his imprisonment.)
How did you get involved with this project?I was a little late listening toSerial.
And I was just really piqued.
So, I jumped in.
Did you envision that youd work on it for so long?No.
What was your take on the case when you finishedSerial?
The wholeJay [Wilds] storywas so confusing.
Dissatisfying is the best word I can use for that.
Clearly Sarah Koenig was leaning towards Adnans innocence and she got sidetracked by Jay a little bit, too.
I was not sure.
They agreed because there was a lot of Did he do it, or not?
at the end ofSerial.
And this happened in 1999.
As you went along, did your idea of the case change or shift?Yeah, of course.
It shifted a lot throughout the three and a half years.
But theres a lot missing from this investigation.
When you look at things that way, the story doesnt have room to move in any other direction.
And we did our own investigation.
We went down a lot of different roads than what some people have gone down.
One of the biggest differences in the first episode is how much we learn about Hae Min Lee.
I really wanted to double-check that she wasnt just another victim.
Hae was this beautiful young woman who had many things to look forward to in life.
I wanted to double-check that we really, really felt her.
April of 1998 to January 1999.
There were things in there that are very personal.
She experienced extreme emotions.
She fell in love and fell out of love.
She was going through a lot at that time.
Junior and senior years of high school is a very important time for a young woman.
I feel like I learned a lot about her.
Those revelations really put you in the mind-set of being that age.
Adnan and Hae were still hanging out and trying to be friends at the time.
Thats the high-school mind-set.
They dont happen too often with teenagers unless theres a history of mental illness or drugs.
What was the most important thing you learned about her?How much she cared about other people.
She really, really cared.
She was just so passionate.
She cared about justice, she cared about truth, she cared about real things.
And she wanted a good life for herself.
She wanted love so badly.
I think she was hurt as a child and just wanted to be happy.
That was what Hae was all about.
And she seemed like a person who did the right thing.
She was a very responsible, very admirable young woman.
Who voiced Hae in the documentary?
It really sounded like it could be her.
And you used animation to tell parts of her story as well.
Shes from Iceland and shes an incredible artist.
We wanted to ensure she looked real.
We wanted to represent who she really was.
And the voice of Hae is, ironically, my junior editor.
She had the voice that just sounds very similar to Hae.
It was so weird.
She just got it right.
Were you disappointed that Haes family declined to participate?Yes.
But this is very painful, obviously.
That was the closest that we got.
It has to be so painful for them that this is coming up again.
But if it wasnt investigated properly and justice was not served, everyone has a right to that trial.
Hes never tried to point the finger at someone else or say something different.
So it says something about him that hes never changed his story.
Did you meet him?I met him a few times.
We had been granted access to film him in the prison, and then it was taken away.
I speak to him all the time.
I just spoke to him last night.
What did you think of him when you met him?Hes a very spiritual man.
Hes very earnest in person.
He feels that the process will work when it works, but not expecting anything to happen very quickly.
I think this film will probably be the trial that he gets, sadly.
I would love for him to get a new trial.
