Introducing “The Journey,” a New Podcast from The New Yorker and In the Dark

The New Yorker and In the Dark announced the release of “ The Journey, ” an audio investigation hosted by the New Yorker staff writer Ava Kofman. The podcast unravels the mystery of how Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, a wealthy Los Angeles couple, obtained dozens of children through nearly as many surrogates—and exposes a scandal that threatens to undermine the surrogacy industry.

Kofman interviews an unusual cast of characters with ties to the couple, including neighbors, business associates, and surrogates—some of whom were still pregnant when news broke that the couple was under investigation by the F.B.I. Kofman reviews confidential files that raise startling questions about what the child-welfare system knew all along. And she reveals how the stunning lack of regulation in the American surrogacy industry made this situation possible.

The series, which builds on a February, 2026, New Yorker investigation , features interviews with several of the couple’s surrogates who hadn’t spoken to the media before, and follows the previously unreported story of one woman’s fight in Virginia to keep the baby she gave birth to.

Starting Tuesday, September 15th, episodes will be released to all listeners via In the Dark’s podcast feed on a weekly basis, wherever podcasts are available. New Yorker subscribers can get early, ad-free access to all five episodes at once through the New Yorker app and Apple Podcasts.

“ The Journey” is written and produced by Kofman, senior producer Natalie Jablonski, and producer Rehman Tungekar, with Samara Freemark as managing producer. The series is edited by Alison MacAdam, with additional editing by Willing Davidson and Madeleine Baran. The podcast art is by Vartika Sharma.