The controversial series “Monster” is back. It ranks among Netflix’s biggest successes. Now the streaming service is adding eight new brutal episodes to its lineup (streaming start Sept. 17).
Season four thoroughly changes the pattern to date. And: In “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” alongside Ella Beatty in the title role, actress Vicky Krieps also appears, who serves as co-president of the German Film Academy (beside Florian Gallenberger).
Questions and answers about the phenomenon “Monster” and the new season:
What is “Monster”?
The series is a Netflix anthology conceived by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, which has existed for four years. An anthology series, in this case, means that each season focuses on a new case and different characters.
The common thread of the show is only the overarching genre and core theme: In “Monster” these are legendary serial killers.
There are also episodic anthologies, where each individual episode tells a completely new story (example: “Black Mirror”).
Which “Monster” seasons have existed so far?
So far there have been three seasons: “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” dealt with the Wisconsin-based serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (portrayed by Evan Peters) who, between 1978 and 1991, murdered at least 17 youths and young men, dismembered them, and sometimes ate them. The ten episodes were released on September 22, 2022.
The second season, “Monster: The Jeffrey Menendez Story” (here translated), covered the 1989 murder of the Menendez brothers’ parents in the living room of their Beverly Hills mansion. The nine episodes with Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch in the lead roles were released on Netflix on September 19, 2024.
The third season, titled “Monster: The Ed Gein Story,” told the tale of the infamous grave robber and murderer Ed Gein with Charlie Hunnam in the lead role. The eight episodes appeared on Netflix on October 3, 2025.
Gein (1906-1984) is, as an offender and trauma, almost a cultural phenomenon in the United States. He has served as a model or source of inspiration for many well-known works, including “Psycho” (Norman Bates), “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (Leatherface), or “The Silence of the Lambs” (Buffalo Bill).
What is the focus of the new season?
The fourth “Monster” season takes up the case of Lizzie Borden (1860-1927): In 1892, the young woman from Fall River, Massachusetts, was arrested for the axe murders of her father (played by Charlie Hunnam) and her stepmother (Rebecca Hall), who were killed with multiple blows to the head with an axe.
Borden was ultimately acquitted, but her guilt remains a matter of debate to this day. At the time of the murders, only the housemaid Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie Borden were present on the property in New England.
Over the case there has long been and continues to be speculation. There are no definitive historical records about Borden’s sexual orientation. Yet she has frequently been interpreted as lesbian. After her acquittal, she maintained a close, long-term relationship with actress Nance O’Neil, which many historians now view as a romantic relationship.
There have already been numerous films and miniseries about Lizzie Borden, including the 2015 “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” with Christina Ricci in the lead role and the 2018 feature film “Lizzie Borden – Murder by Desperation” with Chloë Sevigny as Lizzie Borden and Kristen Stewart as the maid Bridget.
What makes the new season special?
Netflix itself describes the fourth season this way: “Lizzie Borden picked up the hatchet… The first female Monster in Ryan Murphy’s famous anthology series.”
For the first time, “Monster” centers on a woman. Previously, the focus was on male perpetrators.
A second difference: until now, all Monster leads were set in the 20th century. This time the timeline goes back to the 19th century—and sometimes beyond.
A third difference: until now, all “Monster” leads in real life were convicted or institutionalized for their crimes. With Lizzie Borden, the case is different: she was acquitted. The series therefore indulges in a great deal of fantasy.
Already in the trailer you can hear the line about killing one’s dreaded parents: “A knife is too simple. And a gun is almost too nice a way to die.”
Direct link | Official German trailer
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Other female serial killers appear
The series uses various female-serial-killer narratives. For example, the murderer Aileen Wuornos (Sarah Paulson) appears, who killed seven sex workers along highways in Florida during 1989 and 1990. Wuornos was sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed in 2002 at the age of 46.
The “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Báthory also features in the season. The Hungarian noblewoman is said to have tortured and killed dozens of girls and women around the year 1600.
Luxembourg-German actress Vicky Krieps portrays both Countess Báthory and Bridget Sullivan, the Bordens’ housemaid.
