AMC Networks’ SundanceTV is doubling down on its successful True Crime Story franchise, producing new episodes of both series focused on telling a wide variety of gripping true crime stories from unique perspectives. 
It Couldn’t Happen Here, hosted by New York Times Best-Selling Author Hilarie Burton Morgan (One Tree Hill, The Walking Dead, Friday Night in with The Morgans) and Indefensible, hosted by Academy Award nominee Jena Friedman (Borat 2, The Daily Show) are producing new episodes that will premiere on SundanceTV and AMC+ in 2022. AMC Studios Content Distribution is managing worldwide sales. “True Crime Story’s” initial episodes were AMC+’s biggest true crime series of 2021 in both viewership and new subscriber sign-ups.
True Crime Story had an immediate impact after its premiere in fall of 2021, providing crucial awareness to overlooked cases. The first episode of It Couldn’t Happen Here focused on the Georgia state conviction of Devonia Inman, a young man given a life sentence at twenty years old. DNA evidence supporting his innocence had been ignored for over a decade and he was currently serving the twenty-third year of his wrongful conviction. Shortly after the airing of this episode, his conviction was vacated as the result of an effort spearheaded by the Georgia Innocence Project and highlighted in the show’s social media and press opportunities. Mr. Inman walked free in December 2021 to spend Christmas with his family.
In eight new episodes of It Couldn’t Happen Here, Burton Morgan will continue to lend empathy and advocacy to small-town American crime stories in order to explore how major crimes impact these tight-knit communities. She will also continue to shed light on previously adjudicated cases where doubt about the existing verdict lingers.
In six new episodes of Indefensible, Friedman uses her unflinching comedic point of view and disarming interview skills to uncover the “why” and “how” not only of crimes themselves, but of our sometimes dysfunctional criminal justice system. 
“We are thrilled to continue the True Crime Story franchise, which allows Hilarie Burton Morgan and Jena Friedman to bring their unique perspectives to an incredibly popular genre," Blake Callaway, General Manager of SundanceTV, said in a statement. "True Crime Story highlights the personal stories of those impacted by crime and also touches on the issues of our justice system. These cases also have the power to change people’s lives. The team behind It Couldn’t Happen Here featured a story that helped secure freedom for Devonia Inman, who had been wrongfully imprisoned for 23 years. We’re looking forward to revisiting new cases that challenge the system and speak the truth.”
Hilarie Burton Morgan noted, “SundanceTV has been a supportive partner in raising awareness of the inequities that exist in small towns when traumatic crimes occur. I’m so grateful for their willingness to bend the true crime genre in the direction of advocacy.”
Jena Friedman said, “I’m looking forward to working with SundanceTV on the next batch of episodes, so we can shed a light on miscarriages of justice within our legal system.”
Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment, executive producers of It Couldn’t Happen Here are Robert Friedman, Liz Yale Marsh, and Mike Powers for Bungalow Media + Entertainment as well as Hilarie Burton Morgan for Mischief Farm, Liz DeCesare and Meg Mortimer for Authentic Management Productions, and Po Kutchins, who also serves as series director.
SundanceTV created the “True Crime Story” franchise to build off its success of critically acclaimed limited true crime series including The Preppy Murder: Death In Central Park, No One Saw A Thing and Jonestown: Terror In the Jungle and the continuing strong performance of its acquired crime dramas.