Crime

The Prime Video series is reportedly separate from the scripted adaptation deal Read and defense attorney Alan Jackson signed earlier this summer.

By Abby Patkin

updated on August 27, 2025

1 minute to read

Elizabeth Banks will reportedly play Karen Read in an upcoming limited series about Read’s high-profile murder case — an announcement that follows months of online speculation and fancasting. 

Banks, a Pittsfield native, will also serve as executive producer on the project, a collaboration between Prime Video and Warner Bros. Television, according to Deadline. 

Justin Noble — known for his work on “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — is on board as writer-showrunner, the news outlet reported. Legal drama veteran David E. Kelley, who grew up in Belmont and shot to fame with shows like “Boston Legal” and “Ally McBeal,” is reportedly executive producing as well.

The series will explore “society’s obsession with true crime, the allure of conspiracy, and the deepening crisis of trust in our institutions,” per The Hollywood Reporter. The project is based on the Law & Crime and Wondery podcast “Karen” and is separate from the scripted adaptation deal Read and defense attorney Alan Jackson inked with LBI Productions earlier this summer, the news outlet reported. 

Read, 45, was accused of murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, on a snowy night in Canton in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged she drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at a fellow Boston police officer’s house party. However, Read’s lawyers argued she was framed in a law enforcement coverup and floated an alternate theory that O’Keefe was killed inside the home.

Read’s first trial resulted in a mistrial in 2024, but her retrial ended with her acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges this past June. Jurors only convicted Read of a drunk driving misdemeanor, for which she received a year of probation. 

Read still faces a pending wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family.

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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