It was one of the defining legal battles of the 2000s, when a young American student was accused of murdering her British roommate in a case that captivated global audiences and sparked debates about justice, media coverage and the complexities of international law. Now, Amanda Knox's story returns to our screens in Hulu's The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, an eight-episode series that premieres on Disney+ today.
The series, which has been executive produced by Knox herself alongside her husband Christopher Robinson and Monica Lewinsky, spans from Knox's 2007 arrival in Italy as a hopeful student to her return in 2022. It's worth noting that the family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher was not involved in the production of this series, adding another layer of complexity to how this story that impacted so many continues to be framed and retold.
'We start it with two young girls who go to study abroad in Perugia, Italy, and it's a beautiful experience,' Knox told Today of the series, which stars Tell Me Lies' Grace van Patten as Knox. 'They have the whole world ahead of them. That's who I was, and that's who Meredith was.'
Read Next
Who Is Amanda Knox?
Amanda Knox was a 20-year-old American student from Seattle studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, when her life irrevocably changed in November 2007. She arrived as countless American students do — eager to experience European culture, learn a new language, and expand her worldview during what should have been a transformative but carefree period of her education. Instead, she found herself at the centre of an international legal and media storm following the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher.
Knox's story quickly became tabloid fodder as she began a years-long journey through the Italian justice system. Knox spent about four years in an Italian prison and faced multiple trials. She was ultimately cleared of all murder charges, although an Italian court upheld her conviction for slander for accusing an innocent man in 2025.
Today, at 38, Knox is a mother of two young children, a podcast host exploring themes of justice and truth, an author examining freedom and meaning, and an ambassador for the Innocence Network.
What Was Amanda Knox Accused Of?
The events in Perugia in 2007 fundamentally altered two lives — ending one and forever changing another. Knox, along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was accused of killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher. What followed was a legal labyrinth that stretched across years, each twist seeming to deepen rather than resolve the mysteries surrounding that November night.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder in 2009, their young faces becoming symbols of either justice or injustice depending on who was watching. The truth, as it often does, proved more elusive than the headlines suggested. By 2015, Italy's Supreme Court had definitively exonerated both, but not before their lives had been fundamentally reshaped by years of legal uncertainty.
Rudy Guede, whose DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene, was convicted separately and served 13 years of his 16-year sentence before his release in 2021. Yet even with this conviction, questions lingered — the kind that are resistant to the finality that courts are meant to provide.
What Happened During Amanda Knox's Trials?
The first trial began in 2009, capturing international attention as prosecutors painted Knox and Sollecito as participants in a fuelled sexual assault gone wrong. Knox's behaviour during the investigation — including cartwheels at the police station and public displays of affection with Sollecito — was scrutinised and criticised by media and prosecutors alike. In December 2009, both Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder and sentenced to lengthy prison terms: 26 years for Knox, 25 for Sollecito.
The second trial, an appeal that began in 2010, introduced new forensic evidence that cast doubt on the prosecution's case. Independent experts questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that had been central to the original conviction. In October 2011, Knox and Sollecito were acquitted, with Knox breaking down in tears as the verdict was read. After serving four years in Italian prison, she was free to return to Seattle.
But Italy's complex legal system wasn't finished with them. The third trial came when Italy's highest court overturned the acquittal in 2013, sending the case back to a lower court. In 2014, Knox and Sollecito were convicted again in absentia — Knox remaining safely in Seattle while the legal proceedings continued without her physical presence. This conviction carried a 28-year sentence that Knox vowed never to serve.
Why Was Amanda Knox's Conviction Overturned?
Finally, in March 2015, Italy's Supreme Court definitively exonerated both Knox and Sollecito, ruling that the evidence was insufficient for conviction. The court's reasoning was scathing, describing the investigation as plagued by 'stunning flaws' and 'sensational failures'. Knox and Sollecito were declared innocent, their legal nightmare officially over after eight years of uncertainty.
What Happened When Amanda Knox Was Released From Prison?
Rather than Knox's return to freedom in 2011 marking an ending, it instead was the start of a complicated beginning. After four years in Italian prison, she found herself back in Seattle, attempting to reconstruct a life that had been interrupted at its most formative moment. The world had moved on; she had to catch up while simultaneously processing trauma that defied comprehension.
Her path back to normalcy took deliberate steps. She completed her creative writing degree at the University of Washington in 2014, reclaiming the educational journey that had been so violently derailed. Her 2015 memoir Waiting to Be Heard became both catharsis and clarification — an attempt to wrestle her narrative back from years of media speculation and legal proceedings.
But Knox's legal troubles proved as persistent as her determination to move forward. Her acquittal was annulled and the case sent to lower courts, leading to re-conviction in 2014 before the Supreme Court's final exoneration in 2015. Even then, shadows remained. In 2024, she returned to an Italian courtroom to face a slander conviction related to statements made during her original interrogation.
![good morning america 5/1/13 amanda knox the college junior who became the center of a dramatic murder trial in italy, conviction and the court appeal that finally acquitted and freed her speaks to robin roberts on good morning america, airing on the walt disney television network. (photo by ida mae astute/disney general entertainment content via getty images) amanda knox](https://cdn.statically.io/img/hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/amanda-knox-tv-series-68a5d5edcc994.jpg?resize=640:* "ABC's "Good Morning America" - 2013")
Knox's relationship with Italy remains complex and ongoing. She has returned multiple times since her exoneration, including a poignant 2022 trip with Sollecito to Gubbio — the city they had planned to visit the day Kercher was found dead. 'It was bittersweet to go back as we were supposed to go there in such different circumstances,' Sollecito observed in a 2022 interview, 'but it was just nice for us to be able to talk about something that wasn't the case.'
Where Is Amanda Knox Now?
Today, Knox lives in the Seattle area with her husband Christopher Robinson, whom she met in 2015 at his book launch. 'I was probably the only person at the party who didn't really know who she was,' Robinson later recalled in a 2017 interview. They married in 2020 in a space-themed ceremony and share two children: daughter Eureka, born in 2021, and son Echo, born in 2023.
As an ambassador for the Innocence Network, Knox channels her experience into advocacy for others caught in similar legal predicaments. The couple co-hosts the Labyrinths podcast, while Knox hosts several others on her own including Hard Knox With Amanda Knox. Her latest book, Free: My Search For Meaning, was published earlier this year.
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is available to stream on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland, on Hulu in the U.S., and Disney+ internationally.
ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
