The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox wrapped up Amanda Knox‘s story after she was wrongfully arrested and accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy — but where did the Hulu series end?
During the Wednesday, October 1, finale, Knox (Grace Van Patten) met with her prosecutor Giuliano Mignini (Francesco Acquaroli) years after her prison release. The pair reconnected while sending each other letters, which led to a reunion in Italy. Knox, 38, was able to forgive Mignini — despite him not being able to apologize for his role in her imprisonment.
The last scene showed Mignini, 75, overwhelmed with feelings associated with his involvement in the case. Knox, meanwhile, was able to look ahead as she focused on her family with husband Christopher Robinson (Jared Canfield).
John Hoogenakker, who played Amanda’s father Curt Knox, exclusively spoke with Us Weekly about the ending.
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“Francesco Acquaroli is just fantastic in this role. It meant enough to [creator] K.J. [Steinberg] and to [executive producer] Warren [Littlefield] and everybody involved to not turn him and the police force into some sketchy Italian-like villains,” he explained. “It would have diminished a whole entire aspect of this event and the aspect of the humanity of all the people involved.”
Amanda was thrust into the spotlight in 2007, after her roommate was murdered in Italy. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison and served time behind bars before being cleared of all crimes and exonerated in 2015.
During her interrogation in 2007, Amanda accused her then-boss Patrick Lumumba of the murder, which led to his arrest and two-week incarceration. Amanda signed two statements prepared by police regarding her accusation before eventually walking back the claims.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2023 that Amanda’s rights were violated during the interrogation that ultimately led to her accusation against Lumumba. As a result, Italy’s supreme court ordered a retrial at the appellate court level.
Amanda was ultimately reconvicted of slander in June 2024 by an Italian court. She originally was convicted in 2009 of slander for falsely accusing Lumumba of murdering Kercher, and the appellate court upheld that conviction nearly two decades after Kercher’s murder.
“Everybody has motivation. We need to understand what that motivation is and where these people [on the Italian police force] come from, in order to truly understand this event. And that’s been a huge thing for Amanda,” Hoogenakker, 48, added. “She got to a place where she can actually offer forgiveness to a person that has hurt her and changed the course of her life — where no forgiveness has been offered. It’s a major lesson for everybody. She just has to offer it up because she’s tired of carrying the weight and she’s not going to carry it the rest of her life.”
He continued: “I just think Grace is absolutely amazing in this role. She’s such a joy to get to work with and to be around. I love when this happens.”
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Before the finale, Van Patten, 28, spoke to Us about pushing herself as an actress when bringing Amanda’s story to the screen.
“Amanda couldn’t have been more open and vulnerable with me and inviting when I first met her,” Van Patten recalled last month. “The goal for me was to just understand her as much as possible and from the very first moment she let me in so openly. I asked her everything I could think of, and she was willing to help me go there and walk me through her feelings and emotions throughout her experience.”
The actress was grateful for the opportunity to uplift Knox’s voice.
“That was the most important thing to me, to try and portray those emotions as much as possible as opposed to doing some sort of impression of her or impersonation,” Van Patten continued. “So, she really allowed me to go there and do that, and it’s been a privilege to help tell her side of the story with this show.”
Van Patten noted she wouldn’t rule out exploring more real-life stories on screen, adding, “I’m always interested in telling complex female stories with depth, so if the right project or story was being told based on a real person’s story of course. I’ve said it before, but I’ve never felt so fulfilled after a job and have loved being a small part of Amanda being able to reclaim her story.”
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is streaming on Hulu.
