A new eight-part TV dramatisation, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which begins airing on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally, has reignited debate about the value of retelling the notorious miscarriage of justice. The series focuses on the American student who was initially convicted, then ultimately acquitted, of the 2007 murder of British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy.
Kercher's sister, Stephanie, previously expressed dismay at the project, telling The Guardian: 'Our family has been through so much and it is difficult to understand how this serves any purpose.' The series arrives after two memoirs by Knox, a Netflix documentary, and several podcasts, raising questions about what new ground it can cover.
The drama, created by showrunner KJ Steinberg, employs an inconsistent tonal blend of light-heartedness and magical realism, including an homage to the film Amélie. Some scenes feature clunky metaphors and irreverent millennial narration, which critics argue diminishes the gravity of the actual crime and legal ordeal.
Knox spent almost four years in an Italian prison before her conviction was quashed in 2011, with a retrial and final acquittal in 2015. Her co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito was similarly exonerated, while Rudy Guede served 13 years. The European Court of Human Rights later ordered Italy to pay Knox compensation for flawed police interrogation methods.
While Knox has been vocal about reclaiming her narrative following a global media trial that branded her 'Foxy Knoxy', the new series has been met with skepticism. Critics note that despite her understandable desire to tell her story, the dramatisation's execution—described as jarringly romanticised and cliché-ridden—may ultimately serve more confusion than clarity.
