--- description: The highly anticipated second season of Sarah Koenig's podcast Serial is finally here and the Internet is going crazy about it. title: 'Serial' Has Returned and the Internet Cannot Handle It image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Serial_ Has Returned and the Internet Cannot Handle It  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Dec 10, 2015 4:19 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Dec 10, 2015 4:19 PM CUT The [highly anticipated second season](http://time.com/4144182/serial-second-season/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter "undefined") of Sarah Koenig’s podcast _Serial_ is finally here and the Internet is going crazy about it. As was rumored, this season will tackle the case of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for nearly five years. > [](https://twitter.com/serial/status/674927271577300992) After the team at _Serial_ announced its release with a casual tweet and an email to subscribers on Thursday morning, people took to Twitter to express their emotions and thoughts about the upcoming episodes. **Many could barely contain their excitement:** > [](https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/674928404089561089) > [](https://twitter.com/ACassady%5FKSR/status/674944692233109505) > [](https://twitter.com/katbamkapow/status/674975380181295109) > [](https://twitter.com/evanmoody/status/674948978698493953) **While others cracked jokes about the series:** > [](https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/674960540888866818) > [](https://twitter.com/ErinStrecker/status/674959783695355904) > [](https://twitter.com/thebrandedgirl/status/674948667707527168) > [](https://twitter.com/alexsleepwalks/status/674975408606023680) **Others recognized the severity of the subject matter being discussed:** > [](https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/674945218521755648) > [](https://twitter.com/rilaws/status/674971198367924224) **Even Rabia Chaudry, a lawyer who set in motion the events that led to season one, chimed in:** > [](https://twitter.com/rabiasquared/status/674945625377648640) The first episode of season two, “DUSTWUN” (or “Duty Status – Whereabouts Unknown”), is [available](https://serialpodcast.org/ "undefined") to download now. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/"},"headline":"Serial Has Returned and the Internet Cannot Handle It","datePublished":"2015-12-10T16:19:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:35.541Z","description":"The popular podcast's second season will tell the story of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl","url":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Military","Afghanistan","viral","News","Taliban","Bowe Bergdahl","Serial","podcasts"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/","name":"Serial Has Returned and the Internet Cannot Handle It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Covers: 47 Years of War and Hope in the Middle East","description":"TIME Covers: 47 Years of War and Hope in the Middle East","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/r3PKM6pC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-07T12:48:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r3PKM6pC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/","duration":"PT1M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4144297/serial-podcast-season-two/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```