HOLLYWOOD actress Elizabeth Banks is set to star in a new true-crime series based on Karen Read’s infamous murder trial.
The Hunger Games star will reportedly play Read in the limited Prime Video and Warner Bros Television production.
Karen Read was found not guilty of killing her cop boyfriend in a Massachusetts court[/caption]
Elizabeth Banks will reportedly play Read in the series adaptation of her trial[/caption]
It comes just weeks after Read was cleared of killing her police officer boyfriend.
Banks will also be an executive producer of the series, to be written by Justin Noble, with David E. Kelley also on board as an executive producer.
Yet to be named, the upcoming series will be based on the Law & Crime and Wondery podcast, Karen.
The story follows the trial that “captivated the nation and turned Read into a household name.”
In the real-life case, Read, 45, was accused of leaving her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, to die in a snowstorm after hitting him with her car in January 2022.
The new series has been described as one that “fractures a community, with some believing she is guilty of first-degree murder, and others that she’s the victim of a sweeping cover-up by state and local law.”
It also promises to “explore society’s obsession with true-crime, the allure of conspiracy and the deepening crisis of trust in our institutions,” as reported by Deadline.
The trial became a hot story on morning talk shows and was quickly turned into a Netflix documentary even before the jury delivered its verdict.
O’Keefe, 46, was found dead in the snow outside a house party in the Boston suburbs.
He died from injuries to his head and hypothermia.
During her sensational trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, prosecutors said Read fatally struck O’Keefe with her SUV and left him to die in a blizzard.
Prosecutors called nearly 40 witnesses, including O’Keefe’s family and friends, first responders, and experts who explained how Read might have hit him with her car.
Furious text messages that Read sent to O’Keefe as he lay dying were also shown in court, with prosecutors insisting she was angry enough to kill her boyfriend after they had argued about their relationship that night.
But Read’s defense lawyers argued she was the victim of a conspiracy by O’Keefe’s fellow cops framing her for her boyfriend’s death.
A timeline of Karen Read’s case
Karen Read, the Mansfield woman acquitted of fatally striking her cop boyfriend with her SUV in January 2022, began her retrial in April 2025. A judge declared a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict after five days of deliberation.
- January 29, 2022: O’Keefe’s body is found outside of a friend’s home.
- February 1, 2022: Read was arrested and charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a vehicle homicide.
- February 2, 2022: Read pleads not guilty in Stoughton District Court.
- June 9, 2022: A state grand jury indicts Read on upgraded charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene.
- April 12, 2023: Read’s attorneys publicly release court documents they say contain “bombshell exculpatory information,” including Jennifer McCabe’s Google search.
- Nov. 20, 2023: Residents of the divided community vote 903-800 to audit the Canton Police Department over the case.
- May 23, 2023: During another pre-trial hearing, the defense says that the murder of John
- O’Keefe is a massive cover-up involving members of law enforcement and their friends and family members.
- Feb. 22, 2024: Prosecutors unveil long-awaited results of crime scene evidence tests, alleging that O’Keefe’s DNA was recovered from the broken taillight of Read’s vehicle.
- April 12, 2024: Read’s defense attorneys say in court that Brian Albert, his son Colin Albert, and Brian Higgins could have each killed O’Keefe at the party that night.
- April 16, 2024: Read’s trial began in Massachusetts Superior Court.
- May 17, 2024: Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read when she discovered O’Keefe’s body, testifies that during their search, Read repeatedly said: “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” She also says Read later said when emergency workers were on the scene: “I hit him.”
- June 3, 2024: The defense accuses police of planting the shattered fragments of taillight from Read’s car at the scene of the crime.
- June 24, 2024: The defense rests their case.
- July 1, 2024: A judge declared a hung jury after five days of deliberation.
- April 22, 2025: Read’s second murder trial begins.
- June 18, 2025: Read is acquitted of second-degree murder and leaving the crime scene. She was only found guilty of drunk driving
They alleged O’Keefe was beaten to death by the people at the party, bitten by a dog, and dragged outside in the cold.
After deliberating for 21 hours and 17 minutes, the jury acquitted Read of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
The only charge Read was found guilty of was the least serious one of drunk driving, which leaves her with one year of probation.
For years, Read’s team and supporters fervently insisted she was the target of a police cover-up framing her for O’Keefe’s death.
Read pleaded not guilty to all charges in the 36-day murder trial.
Speaking outside the courtroom following the verdict, Read told a cheering crowd of supporters, “No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have. Than I have, and my team.”
Read’s first trial , which started in April 2024, ended in a mistrial last July due to a hung jury as jurors couldn’t agree on whether Read was guilty of second-degree murder.
The former lead investigator on the case, Michael Proctor, admitted to sending lewd texts about Read on the stand at the first trial.
Proctor was later fired and didn’t return to testify at the retrial.
The new series will see Banks reunited with Prime Video, who she recently collaborated with on The Better Sister, which earned the actress glowing reviews.
Over the years, Banks has featured in popular films like Spider-Man, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Magic Mike XXL, Pitch Perfect, Cocaine Bear, and Charlie’s Angels.
She has also starred in several TV shows, including Modern Family, 30 Rock, and Scrubs.
After she was found not guilty, Read told reporters, ‘No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have’[/caption]
Banks has not yet publicly addressed the casting announcement[/caption]
