Hulu has just greenlit an all-new limited series about the infamous story of Amanda Knox (Labyrinths with Amanda Knox, The Scarlet Letter Reports). According to Deadline, Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Kenzo World) is set to portray Knox, who, in 2007, was unjustly convicted for the murder of her study abroad roommate, Meredith Kercher. The limited series will consist of eight episodes, each an hour long, and will follow the then-16-year-old Knox’s journey to free herself.
The untitled series hails from 20th Television, which is in collaboration with KJ Steinberg (This Is Us, State of Mind) from The Littlefield Company, who will be on board as an executive producer alongside Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Old Man), Qualley, Ann Johnson (War Game, Dopesick), Lisa Harrison (Superman Returns, Invasion) and Graham Littlefield (Fargo, Reprisal), who also comes from The Littlefield Company.
Additional executive producers include Knox herself, Chris Robinson (Catch the Black Sunshine, The Intruder) from Knox Robinson Productions and Monica Lewinsky (American Crime Story, Elvis Found Alive).
According to Deadline, the Knox project has been in talks for while; Hulu pushed the series to be on “priority-track development.” Last October, Lewinsky, who is also known for her activism, unveiled the news of the series during a PSA campaign about self-bullying with the Today show.
Deadline notes that Lewinsky said at the time, “I wish it were announced already, but I’m executive producing a limited series that’s on another young woman who found her life decimated and ripped apart on the world stage, but she somehow managed to survive. I think it’s going to be really powerful.”
Knox remained behind bars for almost four years in Italy due to the 2007 murder of Kercher, another exchange student who shared an apartment with Knox in Perugia; she was later acquitted.
Knox released a memoir entitled Waiting to be Heard in 2013, chronicling her experience during incarceration. In 2016, she was seen in Netflix’s Amanda Knox documentary. Knox’s case was also dramatized for Lifetime in the movie Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy.
Other work credits for Steinberg include her serving as an executive producer for This Is Us by NBC. She also created and executively produced Mistresses for ABC.
Qualley has obtained two Emmy nominations, one in 2019 for her work in Fosse/Verdon and another in 2022 for her work in Maid. She has also been in numerous other projects, such as Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Poor Things.
Sloane Offer Weber & Dern and CAA represent Qualley.