An upcoming season of Serial will likely tackle the strange case of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who disappeared from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 under mysterious circumstances. He was later released in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay detainees in May 2014.
Bergdahl was held prisoner by the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied guerilla insurgent group. He painted himself as an honorable deserter, claiming that he was abducted after intentionally walking off his outpost to call attention to troubling conditions. But his fellow soldiers say his intentions weren’t so honorable. He has been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, which carries a life sentence.
It sounds like a provocative story for Serial host Sarah Koenig, who last tackled the 1999 murder of Baltimore high schooler Hae Min Lee in her addictive podcast. Her methods and biases for this upcoming season are already receiving heavy scrutiny this time.
Maxim reports that Serial is working in tandem with Mark Boal, the screenwriter for Zero Dark Thirty, who is working on turning Bergdahl’s story into a movie. Boal has reportedly provided the Serial team with research material that includes taped interviews with Bergdahl. Boal, Koenig and other Serial producers were spotted in a courtroom at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio for a hearing to determine if the former POW will be tried in a court-martial.
Maxim has spoken with two former members of Bergdahl’s unit, who said they were interviewed by producers with Serial. One made it clear they weren’t happy about where this was going: “I get it that Boal wants to make a movie and Serial is trying to make a nifty diorama for hipsters to marvel at, but I think it’s the height of crassness for them to do this when it could potentially affect the legal proceedings… I assume it will be a great way to paint us as kooks and sore losers.”
Serial, on the other hand, isn’t happy to hear that details about the upcoming season are being leaked. Emily Condon, a production manager for Serial, offered this statement:
“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.”
