Netflix’s ‘Monster’ returns with its first female killer

• Netflix releases eight new episodes of “Monster” focusing on the controversial Lizzie Borden case from 1892, marking a departure from previous seasons.
• The fourth season of “Monster” introduces a female lead character for the first time, exploring the story of Lizzie Borden who was acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother.
• Unlike previous seasons, the new season of “Monster” takes creative license by featuring characters who were not convicted in real life, including Lizzie Borden and other infamous female killers like Aileen Wuornos and Elizabeth Bathory.

“Monster”, with its controversial fascination for real-life violence, is back. Netflix has now released eight brutal new episodes of one of the streaming platform’s biggest hit series.

Streaming from Thursday, season four – “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” – marks a significant departure from the established pattern.

The series is a Netflix anthology conceived by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan that has been running for four years. Each season focuses on a new case and different characters.

What seasons of “Monster” have there been so far?

There have been three seasons to date. “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (2022) told the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer from Wisconsin (played by Evan Peters), who killed at least 17 young people and men between 1978 and 1991, dismembering and in some cases eating them.

The second season, “Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez,” (2024) dealt with the murder of the Menendez brothers’ parents, which took place on August 20, 1989, in the living room of the family‘s home in Beverly Hills.

The third season, titled “Monster: The Story of Ed Gein,” (2025) told the story of the notorious grave robber and murderer Ed Gein, with Charlie Hunnam in the lead role.

Gein (1906-1984) is almost a cultural phenomenon in the United States – both as a perpetrator and as ar many well-known works, including “Psycho” (Norman Bates), “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (Leatherface) and “The Silence of the Lambs” (Buffalo Bill)

What is the new season about?

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 murder of her father (played by Charlie Hunnam) and her stepmother (Rebecca Hall), who had been killed with numerous axe blows.

Borden was ultimately acquitted, but her innocence remains disputed to this day. At the time of the murders, only the maid Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie Borden were on the New England property.

There have already been numerous films and mini-series about Lizzie Borden, including “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” in 2015, with Christina Ricci in the lead role, and the 2018 cinema film “Lizzie” with Chloë Sevigny in the title role and Kristen Stewart as the maid Bridget.

What is special about the new season?

“Hell hath no fury like a woman with an axe,” Netflix writes of the fourth season. For the first time, “Monster” places a woman at the centre.

All previous “Monster” murder stories were also set in the 20th century, and this time the series goes back to the 19th century – and in some cases even further.

And in a third departure: All previous “Monster” lead characters were in real life convicted or committed for their crimes. Lizzie Borden’s case is different in that she was acquitted. The series therefore takes more creative licence.

The series draws on the stories of various female serial killers. Murderer Aileen Wuornos (Sarah Paulson) also appears – Wuornos was sentenced to death for murdering six men along highways in Florida and was executed in 2002 at the age of 46.

The “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Báthory also plays a role in the season. The Hungarian noblewoman is said to have tortured and killed scores of girls and women around the year 1600.