Ella Beatty and Charlie Hunnam have shared new insight into how their Netflix series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story presents the infamous 1892 ax murders differently from the many films, books, and television projects that came before it. The fourth season of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan‘s true-crime anthology arrived on Netflix on September 17, 2026, and it marks the first time the series has focused on a woman. Beatty plays Lizzie Borden, while Hunnam returns to the anthology as Lizzie’s father, Andrew Borden, after playing Ed Gein in the previous season.
The show takes clear creative liberties with the historical record. It presents Lizzie as a young woman trapped in a cold, controlling household who forms a romantic bond with the family’s maid, Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, played by Vicky Krieps. Together, they plot a violent escape. Historian Cara Robertson, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden, told Entertainment Weekly that the series only “foggily resembles” the real case and called the choices “bananas,” noting that aside from the names, little is true to the recorded story. Yet the actors behind the season argue that this fictionalized approach is what makes it stand apart from earlier portrayals.
A New Kind of Monster for Netflix
Beatty described the season as a shift for the anthology. “It’s a very new chapter for the show,” she said in an interview with Reuters. She added that Murphy and Brennan were committed to exploring the story of a woman accused of murder in a way the series had not done before. The season places female rage and repression at its center. Director Max Winkler explained that the story examines the limits placed on women in the 1890s, when a woman who could not marry or fit into expected roles had few options. “Lizzie can’t get married off. She can’t find someone to take her,” Winkler said. He added that the show does not assume anyone is born evil and that understanding the pressure a person faces is key to the story.
Ella Beatty on Playing the First Female Monster
For Beatty, stepping into the role meant confronting a figure who has lived in American culture as much myth as person. She knew the nursery rhyme but little else before filming. “I knew that she was this sort of almost mythological figure in American history,” Beatty said. She also noted that she did not know Lizzie was acquitted at trial or that so much about the case remains unknown.
Preparation included reading Robertson’s book, listening to podcasts, and working through the psychological questions of how Lizzie moved, thought, and spoke. The result is a version of Lizzie that Beatty says she felt connected to from the start. “I remember making the audition tape and thinking, ‘I understand this person,’” she said. She has called the role a serious responsibility and said she felt lucky to be the first woman to lead a season of the anthology.
Charlie Hunnam on Andrew Borden and Ed Gein
Hunnam’s return to Monster put him in a very different position from his turn as Ed Gein. He told The Hollywood Reporter that research on Andrew Borden was almost nonexistent, which made the role “liberating” compared to the extensive material available on Gein. “We got to create the version of Andrew that was most impactful for Lizzie’s story,” Hunnam said, adding that the team speculated about what in that household drove Lizzie to violence.
He also drew a direct comparison between the two subjects. Gein, he said, engaged in a long period of “devious depravity,” while Lizzie’s alleged crime, if she committed it, was a “much more understandable crime of passion.” He described the Borden home as oppressive, with a father who was cold and miserly and a stepmother who resented Lizzie, creating jealousy and tension that ended in bloodshed. Hunnam has also said that he believes Lizzie was likely responsible, based on his conversations with Murphy and Brennan, though she was acquitted and the case was never proven.
What the Show Changes and What It Keeps
The series invents a romantic relationship between Lizzie and the maid, depicts Andrew as an undertaker who cuts legs off corpses to fit them into cheaper coffins, and includes a subplot involving the ax murderer Aileen Wuornos. It also shows Lizzie committing a third murder beyond her father and stepmother. None of these events have evidence in the historical record. Robertson acknowledged that strict adherence to facts “doesn’t make for a drama” and that artists must be free to tell stories inspired by real events, but she also pointed out that the show presents itself as a true story.
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Cast and Release Details
The eight-episode season stars Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden, Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden, Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden, Vicky Krieps as Bridget Sullivan, Billie Lourd as Emma Borden, Jessica Barden as Nance O’Neil, Joey Pollari as John Morse, and Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos. Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is available to stream on Netflix in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, and other regions where the platform operates. All eight episodes released at once on September 17, 2026.
Stay tuned to VvipTimes for more updates on the Monster anthology and the latest in true-crime entertainment.
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