This is not a drill, people.

The second season of Serial has finally landed, with a whole new case for us to obsess over and speculate about.

Sarah Koenig's 12-episode podcast about the murder of Hae Min Lee and the man convicted for her death, Adnan Syed, went globally viral when it was released last year.

Now she's focusing on a new case, and the first episode has finally dropped. Sadly though, you may need to wait a while to tune in, as the launch of the new series has sent the internet into total meltdown mode.

Both the Apple Podcasts App and the Serial website stopped working within minutes of the first episode's release, as they both struggled to cope with the high demand.

While you wait to tune in, here are a few things you need to know:

1. It's a very different type of case to Adnan's
​Serial Season 2 covers the story of US Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing from his army base in Afghanistan back in 2009. His capture, and subsequent release in 2014 after co-operation between Obama and the Talban (an exchange of prisoners) has been referred to as "controversial," as it's unclear how exactly Bergdahl ended up being captured.

 

2. Sgt Bowe's story is already a high profile one
The release of videos by the Taliban showing a captive Bergdahl – and the repeated rescue missions by the US government – mean that his story is already a well-known one. Sarah will attempt to delve a little deeper, as only she can do.

 

3. Sarah Koenig kinda wishes Serial hadn't done so well
She's already fearing it'll be written off as a one-hit wonder, and says she's fairly certain lots of people will be disappointed with the new season. "We're really not planning on having the same response that we had in season one," Sarah said back in September. "And frankly, we're really totally okay with that." 

 

4. As a result of her investigation, there is indeed hope for Adnan Syed
​Last month the Maryland Court of Special Appeals granted permission for new evidence to be introduced into Adnan's case for his innocence – mainly that some of the AT&T call records used in his original trial may have been far from reliable.