One of Netflix’s most successful series franchises has definitely been its Monster dramatizations of real-life killer crimes and cases, and The Ed Gein Story has been no exception since it debuted on the 2025 TV schedule. The crimes he committed were certainly exceptional in their abhorrence, and Charlie Hunnam brought the mommy-fixated creepster to life with disturbing aplomb. Fans are digging it, even if critics were split, and Murphy & Co. apparently enjoyed working with Hunnam enough to bring him back for Season 4, which has Lizzie Borden as its subject matter.
Not only that, but Season 4 has officially started filming, and Netflix unveiled some other big casting news to go along with Hunnam’s involvement. We’ll dig into those details lower down, but let’s first enjoy Netflix’s shot of the pair portraying Lizzie Borden and her father Andrew.
Portraying the accused and acquitted Fall River, Mass. native Lizzie Borden is Ella Beatty, whose only TV work prior to this was in the second season of Feud as Kerry O’Shea and Kate Harrington. (Her solo film credit is in the stellar If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.) She’ll have her work cut out for her, especially with Christina Ricci having portrayed Borden on the small screen in the relatively recent past. This new role should be slightly easier for Hunnam, however, given how much of a mental struggle playing Ed Gein was.
Check out all of the currently confirmed cast members, with more to be announced as filming continues.
Monster Season 4 Cast List
- Ella Beatty – Lizzie Borden
- Charlie Hunnam – Andrew Borden
- Rebecca Hall – Abby Borden
- Billie Lourd – Emma Borden
- Vicky Krieps – Bridget Sullivan
- Jessica Barden – Nance O’Neill
Rebecca Hall is great in every kind of project, but my horror fandom most loudly trumpets her efforts in projects like 2015’s The Gift, 2020’s The Night House and 2022’s Resurrection, and it’s great that she’ll play Lizzie Borden’s step-mother not long after audiences see her in Adam Wingard’s next action-horror, Onslaught. As Lizzie’s older sister Emma, American Horror Story and Scream Queens vet Billie Lourd should also deliver excellence.
Also making the jump from The Ed Gein Story to Monster‘s next chapter is Vicky Krieps, who portrayed Nazi war criminal Ilse Koch, an inspirational figure to Hunnam’s killer; here, she’ll be playing the Bordens’ live-in maid Bridget Sullivan. Rounding out the early cast list is The End of the F***ing World and American Horror Stories vet Jessica Barden, who will portray actress Nance O’Neill, who enters the Bordens’ story at a later point.
Directing the first episode of the fourth season will be Max Winkler, who is not only the son of Happy Days and Barry icon Henry Winkler, but also the husband of the aforementioned co-star Jessica Barden. Winkler has been a go-to director for Ryan Murphy projects in recent years, as he’s helmed episodes of American Horror Story and its Stories anthology spinoff, The Watcher, Feud, Grotesquerie and Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Unsurprisingly, he’s also already put his efforts to use in the upcoming series Love Story.
Netflix will likely continue ordering up new seasons of Monster for as long as Ryan Murphy is willing to commit to them. So far, its Ed Gein entry has been atop the Top 10 since its release, with millions of views amassed, and it could easily stay in that spot going into the latter part of Halloween season.
For now, all three of Monster‘s seasons can be streamed via Netflix subscription, and stay tuned for more info about Season 4 as it surface.