10 Podcasts Like Serial: What to Listen to After You've Finished

Serial didn't just popularise true crime podcasting. It created the template that dozens of shows have tried to replicate since 2014. Sarah Koenig's investigation of Adnan Syed's conviction combined magazine-quality journalism, narrative serialisation, and genuine legal stakes — and the result was something no one had heard before.

If you've burned through all three seasons and don't know what to listen to next, this list covers the shows that best capture what made Serial so compelling.

What Made Serial Different

Before getting to the recommendations, it's worth being specific about what Serial actually did. Because "investigative true crime podcast" can mean a lot of things.

Serial was:

• A single case, across multiple episodes — not a different murder every week
• Genuinely uncertain — Koenig didn't know the answer, and that showed
• Journalism, not entertainment — source interviews, document requests, on-the-ground reporting
• Stakes — a real person's freedom was in question

The best Serial alternatives share at least three of these four qualities.

1. Your Own Backyard

For: the closest feeling to Serial Season 1

Chris Lambert's obsessive investigation into the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart from Cal Poly is the podcast most Serial listeners point to first. Lambert is not a journalist — he's a music teacher who became consumed by a cold case — and that amateur intensity mirrors Koenig's own uncertainty in Serial's early episodes.

Where it goes further than Serial: the podcast directly contributed to the arrest, trial, and conviction of Paul Flores for Smart's murder in 2022. This is journalism that changed legal history.

It's slower than Serial, especially in the early episodes. Push through. The middle sections, where Lambert starts piecing together what happened, are as gripping as anything in the genre.

2. In the Dark (Season 2)

For: investigative rigour + institutional failure

If Serial is journalism, In the Dark Season 2 is something closer to academic research. APM Reports journalist Madeleine Baran and her team spent two years investigating Curtis Flowers — a Black man from Mississippi who was tried six times for the same crime (a constitutional record), with the same prosecutor, District Attorney Doug Evans, repeatedly failing to convict him or repeatedly securing convictions that were overturned on appeal.

The team documented over 4,500 jury selection decisions and proved statistically that Evans struck Black jurors at 4.4 times the rate of white jurors. The Supreme Court ultimately vacated Flowers' conviction, and he was eventually released after 23 years.

This is the angriest show on this list. It's also the most rigorous.

Season 1 (a different case — the disappearance of Cathy Doyle) is excellent but shorter. Start with Season 2.

3. Teacher's Pet

For: UK/Australian listeners; journalism with real consequences

Hedley Thomas at The Australian spent years investigating the 1982 disappearance of Lynette Dawson in Sydney. Her husband, former rugby league player Chris Dawson, was a suspect from the start — but he was never charged. The podcast ran in 2018, generated enormous public pressure, and in 2020 Dawson was finally charged. He was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Teacher's Pet feels most like Serial in its structure: a single case, a journalist who wasn't sure where it would end, and legal stakes that were real throughout. For Australian listeners especially, the familiar names and locations make it hypnotic.

4. Someone Knows Something

For: emotional depth; missing persons

CBC's David Ridgen pairs with families of missing or murdered people to reinvestigate cold cases. Unlike Serial, each season covers a different case — but the commitment level is the same. Ridgen spends months on each case, builds genuine relationships with the families, and the emotional weight of each season is significant.

Season 1 (the 1972 disappearance of Adrien McNaughton in Ontario) and Season 4 (the murder of Sheryl and Grace Dockstader in 1986) are the strongest starting points.

5. Undisclosed

For: Serial completionists; legal deep-dives

Three attorneys — Rabia Chaudry, Colin Miller, and Susan Simpson — examine potentially wrongful convictions with the level of legal detail Serial could never quite go into. Chaudry is the friend who first approached Koenig about the Syed case, and Undisclosed started with its own investigation of the same case.

If you want to go deeper on Adnan Syed specifically — and there is much more to go into — Undisclosed Season 1 and the Serial Dynasty/Truth and Justice feed are the community's entry points for that rabbit hole.

It's a podcast by lawyers for people who want to read the briefs. If that's you, it's excellent. If you want something more narrative, the other shows on this list will serve you better.

6. Bear Brook

For: forensic technology; cold case identification

New Hampshire Public Radio's Bear Brook covers the identification of four Jane Doe victims whose bodies were found in barrels in New Hampshire forest between 1985 and 2000. The podcast documents how genetic genealogy technology was used to identify the victims and their suspected killer — a process that took decades.

It's shorter than Serial (six episodes), and it lacks the same you-are-there uncertainty, but the forensic methodology at its core is genuinely fascinating and the final episode is devastating.

7. The Dropout

For: high-profile fraud; journalistic storytelling

ABC News' Rebecca Jarvis spent years investigating Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. If you're interested in the institutional failure and manipulation angles of Serial rather than specifically violent crime, The Dropout is excellent journalism about a different kind of fraud.

The production values are polished, the source interviews are rich, and the pacing is tight. It's shorter than Serial (six episodes) but punches above its weight.

8. Cold

For: Utah cold case; family investigation

Cold focuses on the 2009 disappearance of Susan Powell in Utah, whose husband Josh Powell — the prime suspect from the start — was never charged. The case ended in tragedy in 2012 when Josh killed himself and his two young sons. The podcast documents the entire investigation, the failures of the justice system, and what happened after.

Dave Cawley's reporting is meticulous. At nearly 50 episodes, it's among the deepest investigations in the genre.

9. Somebody Knows Something (S4)

Already covered above — but specifically Season 4, about the 1986 murder of two girls in Ontario, deserves to stand on its own. The final revelation is genuinely shocking in a way few podcast conclusions are.

10. The Vanished

For: listening regularly after Serial; case variety

If you want to stay in the missing persons space but want a new case each week rather than a multi-episode arc, Marissa Jones' The Vanished is the best option. The show features families of missing persons telling their stories directly, with no sensationalising. The lack of narrative resolution — most cases are still open — is deliberate, and it makes the show feel more honest than most.

It doesn't have Serial's cinematic quality, but as a consistent weekly presence in the genre, it's one of the most reliable shows running.

Why Serial Still Matters in 2026

Of the podcasts on this list, several have directly contributed to legal outcomes. Teacher's Pet: conviction. Your Own Backyard: conviction. In the Dark: Supreme Court ruling and release. Undisclosed: contributed to Adnan Syed's 2022 release.

This is what Serial opened the door to — the idea that podcasting could be a serious investigative tool with real-world consequences, not just entertainment. It set a bar that the genre has been trying to clear ever since.

Most shows don't get there. The ones on this list come closest.

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