Ryan Murphy is really on a roll this year. First there was The Beauty, then we got The Shards, and now we’re set to get a brand new season of his hit anthology series Monster.
After tackling the stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez Brothers, and Ed Gein, the fourth season of Monster will focus on the story of Lizzie Borden, who supposedly “took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks.”
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story tells the story of the 1892 brutal murders of Lizzie's parents and the historic trial that captivated the nation and ultimately ended in her acquittal.
Netflix has released first-look images and a teaser trailer that has fans wondering how similar the show will be to the real-world events and where it will land on the more than century-long questions about Lizzie’s guilt and sexuality.
Who is starring in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story'?
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
Nettflix
Annette Bening and Warren Beatty’s daughter Ella Beatty will star as Lizzie. She has already starred in another Murphy project as one of Truman Capote’s female confidantes in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and opposite Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Charlie Hunnam, who previously starred as Ed Gein in Monster season 3, will star as Lizzie’s father Andrew Borden. Rebecca Hall (The Night House) will play Lizzie's stepmother Abby Borden and Billie Lourd (American Horror Story) will portray her older sister Emma. Jessica Barden (Dune: Prophecy) has taken on the role of Lizzie’s actor friend Nance O’Neil, and Vicky Krieps (Monster: The Ed Gein Story) will play the Bordens’ live-in maid Bridget Sullivan, both of whom were rumored to have been in lesbian relationships with Lizzie.
What is ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ about?
‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’
Netflix
In real life, Lizzie’s father Andrew Borden and stepmother Abby Borden were found murdered in their home by in a bloody hatchet attack on August 4, 1892. Lizzie became the prime suspect almost immediately and was arrested just days later on August 11. Lizzie was found not guilty by the jury after only deliberating for under an hour. Despite this, rumors of her guilt plagued her for the rest of her life.
As for the show? It’s hard to say exactly what we’ll see, but according to the synopsis, it sounds like the series will focus on Lizzie’s relationship with her family’s maid that has been labeled as sapphic by many and Lizzie’s desire to be unshackled from the expectations of her family and society at large.
“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 official synopsis reads. “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.”
When will ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ premiere?
There is only a teaser trailer so far, but it looks just as brutal and bloody as the previous seasons of Monster. The teaser also hints that this season we can expect a sapphic twist.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story arrives on Netflix on Sept. 17, 2026.
