Margaret Qualley to play Amanda Knox in Hulu limited series
Hulu is bringing the real-life story of Amanda Knox’s wrongful murder conviction and subsequent acquittal to the small screen in a new limited series.
The streamer has ordered eight one-hour episodes of the show, currently untitled, according to a news release sent to CNN on Thursday. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Maid” actress Margaret Qualley will star as Knox.
Knox was wrongfully convicted for the 2007 murder of her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Italy. The limited series will chronicle Knox’s “16-year odyssey to set herself free,” according to the release.
Kercher’s murder in the historic university city of Perugia, and the subsequent trial of Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was a media sensation in Italy and beyond. Knox and Sollecito were students at the university at the time.
In 2009, following a highly publicized trial, Knox and Sollecito were convicted for Kercher’s killing. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years. A third man, Rudy Guede, was convicted in 2008 based on DNA evidence found at the scene, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
After a lengthy legal saga, including a second conviction for both Knox and Sollecito, they were acquitted in 2015. Knox had spent 4 years in an Italian prison before being fully exonerated.
Knox and her husband Chris Robinson, through their production company Knox Robinson Productions, are executive producers of the series alongside Qualley, Monica Lewinsky and “This is Us” producer K.J. Steinberg.
In the years since her exoneration, Knox has remained a controversial public figure but has been outspoken in her effort to clear her name, through her 2013 memoir “Waiting to be Heard” and a 2016 Netflix documentary “Amanda Knox.”
CNN’s Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report.
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