'Serial' Might Be Eyeing A Controversial Case

After a first season that captivated a nation and helped prove to the world that podcasts can truly be as popular as any given television show, if not more so, it appears that hit show Serial might have picked a case to focus its second season around. And that case is even more controversial than that of Adnan Masud Syed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Serial Season 2 will allegedly tackle the Bowe Bergdahl case of 2009, in which Bergdahl disappeared from an army base in Afghanistan under debated circumstances and was held by the Taliban until his release in 2014. Five Guantanamo Bay prisoners were given in exchange for his release, and Bergdahl is currently undergoing the possibility that he will face a court-martial after being "charged with both desertion and misbehavior before the enemy." When asked about the story, Bergdahl's lawyer Eugene Fidell stated, "My focus right now is exclusively on representing Sgt. Bergdahl in the military justice system."

This American Life and Serial Production Manager Emily Condon said to Bustle, "The Serial team hasn’t confirmed our topic for Season 2 yet. Over the last few months we’ve been reporting on a variety of stories for both Seasons 2 and 3 of Serial, along with other podcast projects." The rumor comes from an interview Maxim did with former soldier Matthew Farrell, who also contributed reporting to a feature story on Bergdahl that appeared in The Rolling Stone in 2012. However, in a statement to Maxim, NPR stated that:

"We'd very much appreciate if fellow journalists would give us some room and not feel the need to attempt to dig into and try to figure out what you think we might be doing, especially since we're actively reporting stories, and having a bunch of wild speculation out there makes our job reporting harder. Doesn't feel very menschy. In any case, here's what I can tell you: The Serial staff is currently working on several things simultaneously: Season 2, Season 3, and some other podcast projects. For now we're not talking publicly about anything that we're working on."

From that statement and from Condon, Serial Season 2 handling Bergdahl's case isn't as cut and dry as Serial fans might like to believe, but it does seem to at least be a possibility that the case might come to Season 3 or to another podcast project by the same producers. I suppose every fan will just have to wait until later in 2015 to know the truth. Literally and metaphorically.