Five Reasons To Watch The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, a Cathartic Crime Drama Produced by Monica Lewinsky

Amanda Knox, an American studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, was only 20 when her British housemate Meredith Kercher was murdered in 2007. Local cops quickly focused their attentions on Knox and her then boyfriend of only a week, Raffaele Sollecito, pushing a theory that the three students had been involved in a kind of torture-play sex game gone wrong.

Tabloid media went into a predictable frenzy, dubbing the supposed femme fatale “Foxy Knoxy”. Italian courts convicted Knox and Sollecito of murder (twice) and both served time before finally being exonerated in 2015. A separate trial convicted local burglar Rudy Guede of the crime; his fingerprints were all over the scene. He was released in 2021 after serving 16 years of his sentence.

A decade after her name was officially cleared, Amanda Knox gets to tell her own tale as creative partner and executive producer of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, a new eight-part series on Disney+ from showrunner KJ Steinberg (This Is Us). Here’s why you should tune in, even if you think you’ve heard her story before.

It’s not your usual crime drama

True crime is a bloated genre these days, and even its best exemplars can feel a little grubby and exploitative. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox breaks away from the overdone genre and comes at its subject from another direction entirely: the whodunnit sleuthing and media sleaze are part of the wider crime the series is here to retell. As is the systemic slut-shaming of its central character – an attractive (foreign!) young woman.
Without getting too meta, it’s a narrative about the creation of narratives. Plus, as Knox says herself, “It’s a fucking amazing ride.”

Monica Lewinsky is an executive producer

Who better to help tell the story of a young woman traumatised by media sensationalism than Monica Lewinsky? Knox calls her a fellow member of “The Sisterhood of Ill Repute”, and she’s basically the patron saint of ’90s and ’00s women-publicly-done-wrong. (See also: Anita Hill, Tonya Harding, Pamela Anderson, Amy Winehouse and everyone who’s ever featured in a You’re Wrong About podcast ep.)
Like Knox, Lewinsky has claimed ownership of her notoriety in recent years – starting with that 2014 Vanity Fair article – and become an advocate against cyberbullying and the media’s culture of humiliation.

Relatable rites of passage gone very, very wrong

While many of us already know the big salacious story arc, the show never lets us forget that the people at its centre are young and naïve and just going through the same stuff as the rest of us. First share house, first time alone overseas without family, first love (or at least first all-consuming sexual relationship). On screen, Knox is at times clueless and clumsy, inappropriate and self-absorbed. Like all those before her, and after, she fails to match the myth of the perfect victim.

Grace Van Patten is brilliant in the lead role

Fresh out of compelling rom-dram series Tell Me Lies – and her breakthrough turn alongside Nicole Kidman in Nine Perfect Strangers – Grace Van Patten rises above what could be a “ripped from the headlines” role. Instead, she portrays Knox as quirky and well-meaning, if a little oblivious, as she goes through a brutal coming of age.
Adding to the role’s difficulty factor, Van Patten had to learn Italian during the shoot (just like Knox, she was halting at first and fluent by the end). And since Knox was on set most days, she had to act out all the trauma in front of her real-life counterpart.

It’s the story everyone is (and will be) talking about

If you already knew about Knox’s ordeal beforehand, this series and the way it tells her story will grip you. Or, if this is the first time you’ve heard of it, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is a good place to start.
Half the episodes are out already, with praise from both critics and regular viewers alike. And while it’s a highly bingeable tale, the weekly release schedule means you’ve got a new episode to watch every Wednesday night – and something to talk to your coworkers about at the lunch table the next day.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Disney+. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is streaming now.