On 18 December last year, there was only one thing people were talking about: and it wasn't the impending visit of Santa.
It wasn't a movie or a TV show either - it was the final episode of a podcast named Serial that had become wildly popular over the course of its 12 episodes. But, with its second series imminent, it's now been announced that the rights to a TV spinoff have been optioned.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, notable for their work on The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street and who are currently working on the Han Solo Star Wars spin-off film, have snared the rights to the series created by Sarah Koenig and Julie Synder.
Serial was originally an offshoot of This American Life and followed an investigation in the 1999 murder of an 18-year-old Baltimore teenager.
Although the new TV series is in the early stages of development, it will apparently follow the creation of a fictional podcast, based on Serial, rather than simply being a retread of the podcast itself, but will still be rooted in the history of a past crime. Yes, we're not entirely sure what that means, but we're sure all will become clear in time.
Snyder and Koenig are on board as executive producers alongside Lord and Miller, as well as Alissa Shipp, Ira Glass and Seth Cohen. They are currently searching for a writer for the project.
Fox 21 TVS is bankrolling the project and their President Bert Salke stated, “From the very first week of Serial’s release last fall, everyone at Fox 21TVS was obsessed with the podcast. One year later, thanks to the incredible passion of Chris and Phil, who flew to New York and shared their vision with Sarah, Julie, Alissa and Ira for what the series could be, we’re moving forward on this exciting project. We are confident we’ll attract a spectacular writer and look forward to pitching it to outlets very soon.”
Meanwhile, series two of the podcast was due to land in 'the fall of 2015' but there's no word yet on whether than will still happen. It's been announced by Koenig that it would investigate the controversial case of US Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's alleged 2009 desertion in Iraq.
Will Serial translate to TV? Or will the podcast magic be lost? Let us know below.
