He does go on to say that Koenig and her producers reached out to him and his family, and the evidence he posted to support that demonstrates extreme sensitivity on the part of the NPR team. Nonetheless, Koenig can’t control the way the story is being consumed by her audience and the Lee family’s reaction is understandably negative.

But that reaction is not the only reason turning Serial into a TV show or film may not be the best idea. True stories have long made for compelling filmed material, but once the show concludes, as it currently plans to do, in December, will the addictive nature of the narrative evaporate? The show will end in one of two ways. It’s possible that Koenig will discover some concrete fact that either proves or condemns Syed once and for all. The likelier conclusion will be that there is no way to know for sure what happened to Lee in 1999. How will listeners handle a lack of resolution? Historically, not well.

Either way, I can’t imagine any filmed or televised version of the Serial story will be a straight retelling of the case against Syed. Rather, I expect, we would get a filmed behind-the-scenes depiction of the making of Serial, one more Inception layer down from the original story. Imagine someone like Sandra Bullock playing the charismatic and self-effacing Koenig, the film cutting between her investigation and moodily lit, late-night recording sessions. Imagine the This American Life team (Hugh Grant as Ira Glass?) reacting with surprise when the podcast becomes an overnight phenomenon. It’s a project that, when done well, could provide an interesting look at the push and pull between truth and sensationalism in storytelling, and how something as enormous as Serial inevitably stops belonging solely to its creators.

But doing it well is the key, and it would be oh-so-easy to get it wrong. It’s true that given Ira Glass’s historical commitment to blending journalistic integrity with engaging storytelling, he’d be the last person to let Serial fall to the wrong creative voice. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Glass and his representatives have refused to take any meetings at all until the show is finished, and there’s no guarantee at all that a project would emerge from those conversations--chalk it up as yet another Serial-related mystery.

Will the Serial TV show ever exist? Next time, on Serial.