Charlie Hunnam, Emmy-nominated for playing Ed Gein in the previous season, plays a new character in the anthology drama.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story drops first look at Ryan Murphy’s new murderess

Charlie Hunnam, Emmy-nominated for playing Ed Gein in the previous season, plays a new character in the anthology drama.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in Vanity Fair, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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August 4, 2026 12:14 p.m. ET

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Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’. Credit:

- Netflix revealed the first look at *Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story*.

- Ella Beatty stars as Lizzie Borden, who was accused but later acquitted of hacking her parents to death with an axe.

- Charlie Hunnam also returns to the *Monster* fold after headlining the Ed Gein season.

First Jeffrey Dahmer, then the Menendez Brothers, then Ed Gein, and now Ryan Murphy’s *Monster* anthology drama tackles Lizzie Borden.

Ella Beatty, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening’s daughter who’s also a veteran of the Murphy-verse, debuts as the blood-soaked murderess in first-look photos of *Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story*, released by Netflix on Tuesday. The streamer also revealed a Sept. 17 premiere date for the eight-episode season.

Beatty previously appeared on FX’s *Feud: Capote vs. the Swans* as Kerry O’Shea alongside Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Demi Moore, Calista Flockhart, and more.

Oliver Spenceman as Stephen, Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’.

Suzanne Tenner/Netflix

“I am so excited for viewers to experience our exploration of Lizzie Borden’s story and the questions that her life animates to this day,” Beatty said in a statement. “It has been a dream come true to investigate this complicated person’s psychology and to examine an American crime that feels almost mythic in proportion. This season gives us our first female *Monster* and delves into female rage and repression which I’ve found to feel strikingly relevant, and I cannot wait to share it with the world.”

Charlie Hunnam, who garnered an Emmy nomination for playing Ed Gein in the previous *Monster* season, appears in the new story as Andrew Borden, Lizzie’s father and a wealthy businessmen in Fall River, Mass. He was hacked to death with an axe, along with his second wife, Abby Borden (Rebecca Hall), in August 892.

Lizzie was accused of the murder, though claimed to have been outside by the barn when it happened and later found her father upon her return home.

Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’.

Suzanne Tenner/Netflix

An official description for the season reads as follows: “When the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid find themselves trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty, they escape into a fantasy of sex, power, and revenge. The gruesome unsolved murders that follow don’t just shock the world — they give birth to an icon who refuses to live imprisoned in a cage, choosing instead to forge her own legend: shocking, monstrous, and gloriously free.”

Also seen in the first look are Vicky Krieps, an alum from *Monster: The Ed Gein Story*, as the Bordens’ live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan. The season also stars Billie Lourd (*American Horror Story*) as Lizzie’s older sister Emma, who was out of town during the murders, as the story goes; and Jessica Barden (*Dune: Prophecy*) as Lizzie’s actress friend Nance O’Neil.

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In a newer piece of casting, Sarah Paulson, who’s been filming season 13 of *American Horror Story*, will appear as Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990.

Vicky Krieps as Maggie Sullivan in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’.

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Lizzie was formally charged for her parents’ murders in December 1892. Her widely publicized trial began the following summer, though on June 20, 1893, she was acquitted. No other suspects were ever charged.

*Monster* has turned into a recurring Emmys staple, scooping up multiple nominations with each passing season. This year, Hunnam was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, while his costar, Laurie Metcalf, was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in the same division.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Horror”