'It Has A More Cinematic Feel': The 'Dateline' Team Reveals All About New Peacock Series

If you're a true crime fan, it's likely you're also a diehard "Dateline" fan. For years, "Dateline" has broken down mysterious disappearances, unsolved cases, disturbing murders, and other shocking crimes via interviews with investigators and loved ones. The NBC series is so popular, it's spawned offshoots like "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered" and "Dateline: Unforgettable," as well as podcasts like the one that inspired the miniseries "The Thing About Pam."

Now, a new "Dateline" spinoff is coming our way: "Dateline: The Last Day" will debut eight episodes on Peacock on June 14. On the series, which features correspondents we've come to know and love — Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Stephanie Gosk, and, of course, Keith Morrison — a victim's final hours are dissected to solve the crime. 

During a recent panel about "Dateline" at CrimeCon 2022, which featured Morrison, Canning, Mankiewicz, and Dennis Murphy, they discussed why they wanted to do this new show.

"We do break down hour by hour what that person was doing that day [before they were killed]. It really puts you in the moment," Morrison said, with Mankiewicz adding, "The last one, two, three, four hours are ... crucially important [in a homicide investigation]. It's an interesting way of telling the story and to see the investigation unfold."

It wasn't just that the format offers an intriguing way to frame the story, though. The "Dateline" team was also excited about working with a streaming platform like Peacock, which will allow them to do different things — like play around with an episode's length.

"That' one of the attractions for us because time is a cruel master with these stories. You're able to let them breathe a little more, they have a more cinematic feel I think," Morrison said.

Canning agreed, adding, "'Dateline' on NBC, Oxygen, is down to the seconds with commercials. With streaming there is more freedom."

It sounds like either way, we can expect a lot more "Dateline" in the future, whether it's in new formats or not. The correspondents all emphasized how much they love their job and working with the team.

"[Telling the stories on 'Dateline'] is what we love to do. The stories themselves can be good or bad and they can be dark and that part isn't fun. But fashioning the tale and making it accurate and making make sense gets the passion going in all of us. It's life affirming. ... I'm happy in the morning to get up and do it," Morrison said.

CrimeCon 2022 is produced by Red Seat Ventures and presented by Oxygen.