Elizabeth Banks and Karen Read John Nacion/Variety/Getty Images; John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images True crime fans, this is the best news you’ll (Karen) Read all day.
Amazon Prime Video has officially ordered the scripted Karen Read series starring and executive produced by Elizabeth Banks (Cocaine Bear, Pitch Perfect). The currently untitled eight-episode (each episode is one hour) drama series inspired by the Law&Crime and Audible Original podcast Karen will be written, showrun and executive produced by Justin Noble (The Sex Lives Of College Girls, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Banks will play Read.
The series hails from Warner Bros. Television; Brownstone Productions, David E. Kelley Productions, Audible and Law&Crime will serve as executive producers. In 2025, when Amazon announced it was developing the series, Read had a strong reaction.
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“I have nothing to do with that; it’s not authorized by me in any way,” Read said during an interview with WRKO host Howie Carr. Her attorney Alan Jackson said that Read’s story is “Karen Read’s story to tell.”
Karen Read wants to tell her story through LBI Entertainment (Hell or High Water) — and a book deal.
Here’s the short version of Read’s story: “When a Boston police officer is found dead in the snow during 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,” the Amazon series’ synopsis reads. “As endless suspicion mounts, in multiple directions, this genre-bending true crime series explores society’s explosive obsession with true crime.”
“I grew up in Massachusetts, and like so many people there, we watched this case divide families, friends, and entire towns,” Banks said in a statement. “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. We are grateful to Prime Video, Warner Bros. Television and our partners at David E. Kelley Productions, Wondery and Law&Crime for believing in it from the start.”
“This case has more twists and turns than any story I’ve ever consumed, real or fictional,” said Noble. “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.”
In addition to Banks and Noble, the series is executive produced by Max Handelman, Krissy Wall, David E. Kelley, Matthew Tinker, Aaron Hart, Marshall Lewy, Jeni Mulein, Jen Sargent, Rachel Stockman and Dan Abrams. The project came to Audible via its integration with Wondery; Hart shepherded the project.
“At its core, this series is about more than a single case — it’s about what happens when truth becomes a matter of perspective and an entire community is forced to confront its own deepest divisions,” said Peter Friedlander, head of global television, Amazon MGM Studios. “With Justin Noble’s sharp, nuanced storytelling, Elizabeth Banks’ captivating presence, and the powerhouse creative team behind this project, we believe this will be a defining series that sparks conversation around the world.”
Marshall Lewy, head of Audible content, North America, commented: “The Karen Read case gripped the country because it tapped into questions about truth, loyalty, and who we choose to believe. Karen, the Law&Crime podcast and an Audible Original, set the standard for telling this story and is exactly the kind of IP that translates powerfully to television. We’re thrilled to work with this incredibly talented team.”
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