When Is The Next 'Serial' Season 1 Update?

Regardless of how invested you are in Serial Season 2 and the coverage of the Bowe Bergdahl case, I think every Serial fan can agree that Season 1 was amazing. Even more amazing is the fact that the podcast might have been integral in getting Adnan Syed a post-conviction hearing, which means that his story is far from over. Nowhere is that more clear than with Thursday's new episode of Season 2, mostly because it came with a Serial Season 1 update about Syed's hearing; Sarah Koenig attended, and she's just as excited to share the proceedings with fans as those same fans are to listen to her abbreviated summaries of what's going on in that courtroom. Even better, this is no one-time thing. So, when will the next Serial Season 1 Update episode air? And how many can we expect?

According to Koenig, these updates will come on a day-by-day basis rather than on the weekly basis that Season 1 episodes aired, or on the biweekly basis that Serial Season 2 episodes are airing. Syed's post-conviction hearing will last from February 3 to February 5, starting at 9:30 a.m. every day, and the first Season 1 update covered the events of the first day, February 3. Since we got this update on Thursday, February 4, that means that the update episodes have a turnover rate of one day. Basically, the next update should come on Friday, February 5, with the final update to come on Saturday, February 6.

Of course, that's assuming that abbreviated updates is all we'll be getting. Koenig might have more to say in the second update that will cause it to last longer than the 16 minutes of the first episode, which would require the episode to spend more time in production. They might decide not to air an episode of Serial on a Saturday, and instead save it for Monday when people can listen to it during their commute instead. Koenig might follow the final update of the hearing with an extensive analysis of all that's been said and argued, as well as a look toward the future of where the results of the hearing might take us, which would mean less of an update and more of a full episode that requires a whole week to produce and edit.

At this point, there's no telling how many times we might flashback to Season 1 for an episode, especially since Syed's case may still be ongoing for months to come. All we can know for sure at this point is that there will definitely be more update episodes following the first one which aired on Thursday, and that Serial fans will be listening with bated breath to each and every single one.

Image: Serial