The newest season of Ryan Murphy’s hit anthology, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, arrives on Netflix on October 3, 2025. This installment tells the shocking true story of Ed Gein, a mild-mannered handyman whose gruesome crimes in 1950s Wisconsin became the unlikely blueprint for some of Hollywood’s most iconic horror villains, from Norman Bates to Buffalo Bill. Starring Charlie Hunnam in the title role, the series promises a deep and human look at the man behind the macabre legend.
What Is The New Monster Season About?
Monster: The Ed Gein Story focuses on the life and crimes of Edward Theodore Gein. In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, Gein was a friendly, quiet recluse who lived on a decaying farm. However, his property hid a house of horrors so disturbing it would redefine the American nightmare. Driven by extreme isolation, mental illness, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein was a murderer and grave robber.
His perverse acts of fashioning keepsakes, clothing, and furniture from human skin and bones created a new kind of monster that would haunt popular culture for decades. The series explores how Gein’s macabre legacy directly inspired fictional monsters in films like Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. The show positions Ed Gein not just as an influencer of a genre, but as the original blueprint for modern horror. As the creators suggest, the story reveals a horrific truth: monsters aren’t born, they’re made.
Who’s Playing Who in the Cast?
The series features an all-star cast bringing this dark chapter of history to life. The actors have undergone remarkable transformations to step into the shoes of these real-life figures.
- Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein: The Sons of Anarchy star takes on the challenging role of the titular character. Hunnam has spoken about his intense preparation, aiming to present a human and authentic portrait of Gein. He shared, “I wanted to get as close as possible to who Ed was, to do him justice, and for this thing to feel authentic. This is going to be the really human, tender, unflinching, no-holds-barred exploration of who Ed was and what he did.”
- Laurie Metcalf as Augusta Gein: The acclaimed actress plays Gein’s mother, a fervently religious and domineering figure who preached to her sons about the innate immorality of the world and whose death sent Gein into a deep psychological decline.
- Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock: The renowned director of Psycho is a character in the series, exploring how Gein’s story influenced one of cinema’s most famous horror films.
- Olivia Williams as Alma Reville: Williams plays Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife and a talented screenwriter and film editor in her own right.
- Suzanna Son as Adeline Watkins: Son joins the cast in a key role, though details of her character remain under wraps.
- Additional Cast: The ensemble also includes Vicky Krieps as Ilse Koch, a Nazi war criminal whose alleged crimes fascinated Gein; Will Brill as Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Joey Pollari as Anthony Perkins, the actor who played Norman Bates in Psycho; and Addison Rae as Evelyn.
The Real-Life Story of Ed Gein
To understand the series, it helps to know the real history that inspired it. Ed Gein was an American serial killer and body snatcher active in the 1940s and 1950s in Plainfield, Wisconsin. His crimes gained worldwide notoriety in 1957 when police, investigating the disappearance of local hardware store owner Bernice Worden, made a ghastly discovery on his farm.
They found Worden’s body in a shed, hung upside down and dressed out like a deer. Inside his house, they uncovered a collection of items crafted from human remains exhumed from local graveyards. These included a wastebasket made of skin, chairs upholstered with human skin, skulls mounted on bedposts, a belt made from human nipples, and a famous “woman suit” made of female torso skin. Gein ultimately confessed to killing two women: Worden in 1957 and tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954.
Deemed legally insane, Gein spent the rest of his life in psychiatric institutions, dying of respiratory failure on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77. His story became a source of macabre fascination because of its direct link to popular culture. As one historian noted, “Gein was responsible for creating this distinctly American kind of horror.”
How the Show Connects Gein to Hollywood Horror
A unique aspect of this season is how it directly dramatizes the connection between Gein’s real-life crimes and the fictional horror stories they spawned. The series doesn’t just tell Gein’s story; it also shows how his narrative was adopted and adapted by filmmakers.
The casting of Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitchcock and Will Brill as Tobe Hooper indicates that the series will include scenes of these directors interpreting Gein’s life for their own iconic works. In Psycho, the character of Norman Bates, a quiet motel owner with a morbid attachment to his mother, is a direct parallel to Gein. The The Texas Chain Saw Massacre‘s Leatherface, who wears a mask of human skin, also draws heavily from the discoveries at the Gein farm. Similarly, the villain Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs is shown creating a “woman suit” from his victims, a concept taken directly from the Gein case.
This season aims to locate the man behind the movie monsters. Co-creator Ian Brennan explained, “There are ugly things here, but they were all done by a man — by all accounts, a really strange, interesting man.”
Behind the Scenes and Production Details
The series is created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the same team behind the previous seasons of Monster and other hits like American Horror Story. The third season was officially announced in September 2024, with Murphy revealing that his own childhood fear of Psycho led him to research the real Ed Gein, sparking a decades-long fascination.
Principal photography for the season began in late 2024, with much of the filming taking place in and around Chicago. The season consists of eight episodes, with six directed by Max Winkler and two directed by Ian Brennan. All episodes will be available to stream on Netflix starting October 3, 2025.
Also Read: Monster Season 3: The Ed Gein Story Arrives on Netflix This October
Credits: Netflix
