No matter what happens at the end of “Serial,” the immensely popular podcast series is guaranteed to end with Adnan Syed behind bars. But in the real world, where Adnan also exists, his case is moving forward: After a years-long appeals process, he’ll have a hearing that his lawyer calls his “last best chance” at getting out of prison. The decision has nothing to do with “Serial” — the Maryland Court of Special Appeals told the state to investigate Adnan’s petition before the series premiered — but the appeal will likely focus on a debate listeners are familiar with: whether Adnan’s original attorney erred in not digging deeper into Asia McClain’s account of seeing Syed at the library at the same time the murder was supposed to have happened. The hearing will take place in January, which means the appeals judges have plenty of time to catch up on all the crazy Reddit theories.
