Grace Van Patten Says ‘New Information’ Will Be Exposed About Amanda Knox’s Story in Hulu’s Limited Series

Grace Van Patten is bringing Amanda Knox’s story to life like never before.

In The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, the 28-year-old actress plays a 20-year-old Knox, who was wrongly convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying in Italy. The limited series follows Knox’s “16-year journey to set herself free,” and Van Patten says it’s an “opportunity to reclaim her story.”

“What I thought was so beautiful is, everyone approached it so empathetically. No one’s the villain in the story,” she told PEOPLE in this week’s issue.

Van Patten has been interested in Knox’s story since watching her 2016 documentary. But after diving deep into Knox’s life for the role, she realized how much she didn’t know.

“It was a crazy, full-circle moment for me because I remember when this happened. I watched the documentary around the same time I started acting, and I was fascinated by the story and Amanda as a human being,” the Tell Me Lies star said. “I remember having this dream of playing her one day.”

Landing the role made her both excited and nervous.

“I had never played a real person before, so that was very new for me. The main thing for me was what involvement Amanda was going to have in it.”

Knox, now 38 and a mother of two, is an executive producer on the series. Van Patten says Knox was incredibly “trusting” throughout the process.

“How willing she was to talk to me and trust me felt very beautiful and emotional because people have created this narrative of her whole life,” she said.

The series also shares details about Knox’s story that people haven’t heard before.

“I thought I knew a lot, but it wasn’t even close to the twists and turns that happened over those years,” she teased. “It’s new information the public does not know — especially in the last episode.”

Van Patten hopes viewers “go in with an open mind and base their opinions on facts, not just what they thought they knew or read at the time.”

“Most people only read the headlines about her being a sex-crazed, murderous young girl, which is so far from who she really is,” she added.

She knows many viewers have “preconceived opinions” about Knox but encourages them to be open to changing their perspective.

“The whole downfall of this story is how people were brainwashed by the press and media,” she said, referring to the global frenzy when Knox was charged and imprisoned in 2007.

“It felt very important to me, more than any other role I’ve done — to tell a story that truly should be told.”

In 2015, Knox was cleared by Italy’s highest court, four years after winning an appeal and leaving prison in 2011. Last year, her previous slander conviction was upheld, and her appeal was rejected. She told her podcast, Labyrinths, after the decision, “I’m feeling just kind of f——- numb.”