Beginning in the early 1980s, Black Warrant is based on historical events told from the perspective of Sunil Gupta, who was a jailer for 35 years at Tihar Prisons.

[1][2] In June 2020, it was announced that Vikramaditya Motwane will be adapting the 2019 non-fiction book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer by Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury into a streaming series.

[7] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote that the "series goes the full yard in attempting to unpack the intricate power structure and showcasing caste-and-religious hierarchies in rough-tough Tihar Jail".

[10] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter India, Rahul Desai termed it "skilfully written, performed and crafted" and took note of its abilty to subverse "easy tropes and resolutions".

[11] The Hindu's Shilajit Mitra wrote, "Black Warrant is a grim, discomfiting series, and the flashes of levity and camaraderie only serve to reinforce the tone."