The Serial podcast, hosted by Sarah Koenig, is back for Season 4 of the public radio show that helped popularize the podcasting medium since its first season was released in 2014. This time, to commemorate her 10th anniversary on the show, we are focusing on the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The season is simply titled “Guantanamo.” This is a project that Koenig intended to turn into a scripted television series.
Telling the story about Guantanamo has been an ongoing project for Koenig and Dana Chivis since 2015. They were then able to go on a tour of the military base, which is home to a makeshift prison and court system set up in the aftermath of Guantanamo. September 11, 2001 attacks.
Koenig will co-host with Chivis for the first time this season. Chivis previously served as a producer on the show, most notably in season 1, which was featured as part of the investigation into the murders of Hae Min Lee and her alleged killer, Adnan Syed.
In the first episode of season 4, the hosts explained that they never did a story about Guantanamo because no one was open to it at the time (at least not on record).
“But even as Guantanamo faded away as a topic of national discussion, we continued to think about it, wondering what was going on underground. We wondered how we could bring this story to life. I thought there must be,” Koenig said.
She then spoke briefly about a project she worked on that never saw the light of day. “We even tried to write a TV show about Guantanamo, a fictional version of Guantanamo, and that's humbling,” the podcaster added.
She kept it that way on the show, but an article in the parent organization's New York Times said that “Serial” producer Julie Snyder had the idea to develop a pilot inspired by Guantanamo. He pointed out. This allowed us to have people speak in context rather than as named sources.
“That's when the crazy, debauched stories started coming out,” Koenig told the Times.
Their fake Guantanamo pilot script attracted interest from production companies in 2020, but Koenig decided to try again at telling the story for a full-length radio version instead. By stepping back, we were able to get those who worked on the base to recount their experiences — and thus Season 4 of Serial was born.
The series began as a spinoff of NPR's popular series “This American Life,” and was eventually acquired by The New York Times in 2020. Although this is the first season of the original podcast released after the acquisition, Serial Productions has released the show “Nice.” White Parents,” “Improvement Society,” and for the past few years, “Laramie’s Coldest Case.”
'Serial' has continued to develop its true crime style over the years, from skits on 'Saturday Night Live' to Cinda Canning playing Cynda Canning on SNL's 'Only Murders in the Building.' He has created many parodies. Public radio persona. Canning hosts “All Is Not Okay in Oklahoma,” which sounds similar to “Serial.”
The new season appears to be somewhat reminiscent of the show's second season, which featured former Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl and himself returning to the United States as part of a prisoner swap for five Taliban members held at Guantanamo. . It also followed his prosecution and dishonorable discharge. This season received negative attention from critics compared to the highly acclaimed first season, as it moved away from the original full-fledged crime genre.
The show's first season was previously developed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller as a potential behind-the-scenes series. Season 3, which focuses on Cleveland's criminal justice system, is in development by HBO and LeBron James.
