A source told the magazine that Koenig and at least one “Serial” producer were in attendance at Bergdahl’s preliminary hearing in Texas last week.
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Military officials think he was located across the frontier in Pakistan for most of his captivity, reportedly held by the Haqqani network, which operates in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and is allied to the Afghan Taliban. That doesn’t seem to be a problem for Serial, which established in its first season that its appeal comes from watching journalism in motion rather than coming to a concrete conclusion (people who thought the final episode would conclusively declare Syed innocent or guilty were sorely disappointed). Bergdahl said he was kidnapped after voluntarily leaving his post to protest conditions, but others in the unit believe he left much more dishonorably.
A movie about Bergdahl is also rumoured to be in development, with Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal seen at the same court case as Koenig.
The unnamed soldiers are apparently not happy about Serial’s interest in the case, with one telling Maxim, “Anyone who tries to benefit from Bowe’s situation has little interest in the truth”. He was released by the Taliban previous year in an exchange with five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, a deal which attracted criticism that it breaches American policy of not negotiating with terrorists. But his fellow soldiers say his intentions weren’t so honorable. “Over the past few months they’ve been reporting on a variety of stories for both seasons two and three of Serial, along with other podcast projects”. “My concern is that the truth is being diluted by those looking to gain from Bowe’s story”.
The podcast is set to release its second season of episodes this fall on a totally different subject, and the rumored topic this time is the case of Idaho native Sgt.
Boal alsoappeared at the hearing and is said to be part of the research team for this season of Serial. “I assume it will be a great way to paint us as kooks and sore losers”, one anonymous member is said to have told Maxim.
Urgh. Okay, we’ll just wait here patiently in Serial purgatory, I guess.
The podcast explored whether Adnan Syed, who was found guilty of her murder, really committed the crime. “Doesn’t feel very menschy“, Serial’s Emily Condon told Maxim.
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The second season of Serial will debut this year with the third season to follow next spring.
