Elizabeth Banks to star in Karen Read series for Prime Video

Elizabeth Banks is set to star in a new series about Karen Read.

Prime Video has given a series order to a currently untitled drama series inspired by the Law&Crime and Audible Original podcast Karen. Banks will star as Read and also executive produce the show from showrunner, executive producer and writer Justin Noble.

The show follows what happens when a Boston police officer is found dead in the snow in the middle of a blizzard.

“All eyes are on his girlfriend, Karen Read. But when she and her legal team claim she’s not only innocent, but that she’s the victim of a conspiracy protecting the real assailants, the story spreads like wildfire, dividing a community in ways they’ve never seen,” according to its official synopsis. “As endless suspicion mounts, in multiple directions, this genre-bending true crime series explores society’s explosive obsession with true crime.”

The new series will span eight hourlong episodes.

Banks said in a press release that she grew up in Massachusetts, where she “watched this case divide families, friends, and entire towns.”

“We have spent years with this material because the questions it raises go far beyond one courtroom: why we choose the stories we believe, and what happens when trust in our institutions breaks down. Justin has written a series that respects and treats with care the complexity of what happened and the public reaction to it,” Banks continued.

Noble said Read’s story has more twists and turns than any other story he has consumed, whether it be real or fictional.

“It makes M. Night Shyamalan look like Nora Ephron. But the reason this story resonates and must be told is because of the profound takeaways it leaves us with: about a deeply imperfect justice system that urgently needs change, about the mistreatment of women by those who weaponize and abuse their power, and about a victim who deserves to be remembered,” Noble said.