Massachusetts native Elizabeth Banks set to play Karen Read in new series

A world-renowned actor and producer from the Bay State is set to play a well-known figure.

According to Deadline, Elizabeth Banks, a Massachusetts native known for roles in films like Pitch Perfect and The Hunger Games, is set to star as Karen Read in an upcoming limited series for Prime Video.

The project, currently in development, will dramatize the high-profile murder trial of Read, who was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, by hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022.

Banks, who is from Pittsfield, will also serve as an executive producer on the series, which is being developed by Warner Bros. Television in collaboration with David E. Kelley (known for Big Little Lies and The Undoing), Brownstone Productions, and Justin Noble.

The show aims to explore the controversial case, which has drawn national attention due to Read’s claims of a police cover-up and frame job.

No release date or additional casting details have been announced yet, but the news has sparked mixed reactions on social media, with some praising Banks’ involvement and others criticizing the casting or the project’s timing amid the ongoing legal proceedings.