The finale of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is now streaming on Hulu, bringing to a close the series’ complicated dramatization of the real-life murder mystery that took place in Italy and resonated in headlines around the world.

The eight-part drama stars Grace Van Patten in the title role as the American student living abroad in Italy when her roommate was brutally murdered. Though Amanda and her boyfriend had an alibi for the night of the murder, they were still convicted of the crime in a trial that was beset with a multitude of controversies. After four years of imprisonment, she was ultimately exonerated during an appeal but found herself in a very different kind of prison back home. The series finale followed as Amanda, who still managed to start a new life in America, returned to Italy once again to face the prosecutor who’d been so convinced of her guilt.

Their final exchange was an emotional one — if not completely satisfying — as Amanda once again insisted upon her innocence and tearfully revealed what she lost as a result of his prosecution.

TV Insider caught up with Grace Van Patten to talk about her work in the role, including which scenes were the most crucial to get right, what she hopes the series has achieved for her real-life counterpart, and more.

How familiar were you with the story before you signed onto the show?

Grace Van Patten: I wasn’t too familiar. I was very young. I think I was 10 when it all happened, and it was in the media, so I was definitely shielded from the details then. But I think my first insight into the story was the Netflix documentary. And I remember being in awe of what happened. And I actually called my agents at the time because it was around the time I started acting, and I asked them if they were making something about Amanda Knox, because it would be a dream to play her. So, this is a very crazy full-circle moment for me, the fact that I was able to play her.

When you were making the show, did you become fluent in Italian?

No, unfortunately, I can’t say fluent, but I definitely got familiar with the language and was fluent in my lines, for sure.

Part of the series is an indictment of the media’s portrayal of Amanda. How does it feel to now be part of the media about Amanda?

I think it feels good to change the narrative. I think if there’s going to be scrutiny against somebody, then there should be an opportunity to change one’s narrative. And I feel really important being a part of that. This is the first opportunity Amanda’s had to be part of telling her own story. And I think that’s so amazing. Yeah, I’m so grateful that I can be of service to somebody like that.

Looking at the story as a whole, were there any parts that, when you were planning this and when you were starting it, you were most intimidated or most focused on the need to get right?

It’s exactly that: The challenge was the desperate need to get it right because of what we were just saying there. There has been so much media about her, and she’s been so out of control of what people say about her. So, I really wanted to honor her emotions, and that was the most important part to me, to portray her emotions as authentically as possible and make her feel as seen as possible.

Are there any scenes that stick out in your mind as being the hardest or the most intimidating for you?

I mean, unfortunately, every scene of the story and show is extremely intense, but there were definitely a few that required a lot more attention to detail and it was very important that we get right. Like the interrogation scene at the end of Episode 2, Amanda was there for that. And in addition to that, the finale, the big scene with [Giuliano] Mignini, the prosecutor, that was daunting for many reasons. One, just being the sheer amount of Italian I had to say, and then also just the importance [of the scene]. It’s kind of the whole metaphor of the whole story and really shows who Amanda is as a human being today, which I think the public really, really needed to see.

You alluded to the arc of the story from the original interview, when she’s so naive, to the end when she’s facing that same person. How did you prepare for that growth arc of the character in this story?

Well, I would say that the most valuable thing was talking to her and working with her on differentiating these different versions of her that you see because you see many of them, and they’re all very different, and who you see before everything happened is a very different person than you see today. So, really working with her and the directors I was working with, as well as KJ [Steinberg], the showrunner, on differentiating those different phases we see.

What’s the feedback been like? Have you noticed any feedback about people saying maybe that they weren’t aware of her story and that you’ve helped to kind of elucidate that for them?

Yeah, it’s been really interesting hearing people’s reactions. I mean, the most important reaction to me is Amanda’s, and the fact that she’s happy makes me feel like I did my job. But it has been interesting in terms of the response because people have very polarizing opinions about this and about her, so people are going into the show with already preconceived beliefs. And it’s so beautiful to me that people are leaving the show with different beliefs and different ideas because the show taught them so much about the case, which was the whole purpose of why we were making this.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, Hulu