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True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 is back with a bang, and this time, it’s doing so with more viral mugshots, richer backstories, and wiser reflections on the digital era of criminal identity. The season debuts on Thursday, August 14, 2025, at 10 PM ET/PT on SundanceTV, with new episodes every Thursday after that date. The show comes back to shed light on those moments in time, those viral mugshots, and delve into the generally underreported or misrepresented stories behind them.
True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 doesn't merely present us with an arrest photo and leave it at that. Instead of each show investigating the images and statistics surrounding a case, each episode continues to explore the individuals behind the image and why their case speaks to widespread social issues such as systemic discrimination, mental illness stigma, and the double-edged nature of web celebrity.
The series returns with more of what worked so wonderfully about its first season: gritty, rich storytelling and uncomfortable truths.
True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 release date and time
True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 debuts Thursday, August 14, 2025, at 10 PM ET/PT on SundanceTV. This is the official return of the series following the award-winning first season. The premiere is part of the network's Thursday night crime docuseries schedule and will air weekly thereafter.
As was the case in Season 1, AMC+ will enjoy early streaming of every episode before the cable time. AMC+ subscribers on television platforms like Apple TV Channels, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku, and the AMC+ app will have the luxury of watching the episodes before the cable-scheduled showtime.
Release schedule and episode format
True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 will premiere on a week-by-week schedule with new episodes airing on Thursday nights. The episodes will be in the 40- to 46-minute range and feature the same stand-alone format initiated in Season 1.
Each episode revolves around one mugshot, viral, contentious, or all but forgotten, and tracks the build-up and aftermath of the photo shoot. They are not serial episodes, so the audience can watch episodes in whatever order they prefer without giving up big-picture context. The structure allows for standalone stories on the subjects of justice, misperception, and internet culture.
Streaming and viewing options
The show can be watched on SundanceTV for cable subscribers. Streaming subscribers can stream True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 on AMC+, which typically offers early viewing of all episodes.
AMC+ is available on a variety of platforms, including:
- Apple TV Channels
- Amazon Prime Video Channels
- Roku
- AMC+ app and website
Alternate viewers can also see the full season online through these services.
Issues and topics covered in Season 2
True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 continues its exploration of real people caught in real situations that often spiral out of control. The show behind the scenes of a hit photo lifts the veil and takes a serious look at how these individuals ended up in the limelight, generally against their will. Season 2 will explore deeper into problems such as:
- Systemic bias in policing
- Mental illness and stigma
- Repeat imprisonment (recidivism)
- Media sensationalism
- The viral sharing and connotations of mugshots
It is not just an intention to record the event, but to capture the environment and setting where such tales transpired. Every installment employs a mix of interviews, reenactments, legal analysis, archive news reports, and, where appropriate, opinion from law enforcement and media pundits.
Who narrates True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 1?
First-season narration was provided by author, journalist, and humorist Jena Friedman, whose dry, deadpan delivery and acerbic wit serve her extremely well to tackle this kind of material. SundanceTV has not yet explicitly declared that she will be back on board.
As the program is a documentary, it has no scripted cast. Each episode involves real people, arrestees themselves, their family members, attorneys, and other stakeholders in the case.
Episode number and structure
Although the overall number of episodes is yet to be disclosed, it's stated that True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 will feature six or eight episodes, similar to season one. Each episode starts with one mugshot and then branches off from there to explore the individual's background, how the story was reported by the press, the trial (if one had taken place), and what happened next.
The fact that the episode is viewable independently has benefited returning and loyal viewers, as it is highly likely to be it at any given point in the series without prior knowledge of it.
Summary of Season 1 and whether you should watch it first
Season 1 of True Crime Story: Smugshot set the stage for the show's premise, following viral mugshots and the private, legal, and social consequences that followed those incidents. The tales varied from miscommunications to outright patterns of institutional breakdown. The commonalities were shared addiction, poverty, and media weaponization of the mugshot.
You don't have to listen to Season 1 to know Season 2. Every episode is a separate story that can be comprehended on its own. Being familiar with the previous season, however, might allow new listeners to grasp the tone and the rhythm of the show.
What makes True Crime Story: Smugshot different?
While most sensationalized fact-based true crime podcasts, True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2, are criminal justice or crime result-oriented in min. However, for the people behind the mugshots, the focus is also on their upbringing, their mistakes, and how society interacts with their stories.
The series habitually poses the question: What happens when a single photo defines someone’s life in the public eye? In giving an answer, it addresses current questions that are concerned with privacy, judgment, web culture, and justice.
Thus, True Crime Story: Smugshot Season 2 launches on August 14, 2025, at 10 PM ET/PT on SundanceTV and will be available early on AMC+. The season will continue in the same weekly format with individual episodes spotlighting viral mugshots and the background of the resulting story. With topics exploring systemic flaws, identity, and the social media era, Season 2 enlarges the series' endeavor of taking one photograph and building many aspects of a story.
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Whether you’re returning from Season 1 or jumping in fresh, the second season promises more introspective looks at moments the world thought it already understood.
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