The next installment of Ryan Murphy’s “Monster” anthology series will follow accused axe murderer Lizzie Borden, with Ella Beatty playing the titular role.
Production is set to begin this fall on Netflix, with Max Winkler, who directed episodes in the second and third seasons, directing the first episode. The fourth installment also cast Charlie Hunnam to play Lizzie’s father, Andrew, Rebecca Hall to play Lizzie’s stepmother, Abby, and Vicky Krieps to play Bridget Sullivan, a maid in the Borden home.
Season 4 will center on the story of alleged axe-murderer Lizzie Borden
Borden’s father, Andrew, and stepmother, Abby, were killed with a hatchet in August 1892, receiving 10 and 17 hits, respectively. Police questioned Lizzie and later arrested her as the lead suspect for the murders. Her alibi was inconsistent and her behavior was erratic, causing authorities to question her motives. In June 1893, Lizzie was acquitted for both murders but has remained the prime suspect in the case. No one else was ever charged with the murders.
Historians have theorized that she was physically and sexually abused by her father, which would not have been explored as a motive in the late nineteenth century. Others have suggested that she may have been in a fugue state of amnesia. Another theory outlined in Ed McBain’s 1984 novel Lizzie suggests that Abby caught Lizzie and housemaid Sullivan in a romantic endeavor and reacted with disgust, leading her to kill both Abby and her father.
Borden’s story has been depicted across multiple TV and film adaptations, including the 1975 TV movie, “The Legend of Lizzie Borden,” which starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Borden, as well as Lifetime’s “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” and “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles,” both of which starred Christina Ricci as Borden. More recently, Chloë Sevigny starred as Borden alongside Kristen Stewart in the 2018 film “Lizzie.”
Murphy’s latest “Monster” installment followed Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein, the “Butcher of Plainfield.” The adaptation stretched the truth of Gein’s story, suggesting that he had sex with dead bodies and killed Evelyn Hartley and his brother, which have been proven as false. All three installments of Murphy’s “Monster” series are available to stream on Netflix.
Ryan Murphy says it’s a “female ‘Monster’ season” that will also feature other ‘infamous women’
“It talks not just about Lizzie, but other infamous women who were branded as monsters,” Murphy told Variety in a September 2025 interview, specifically naming Countess Elizabeth Báthory and Aileen Wuornos.
He added that the next season is about “profiling famous women who have been labeled as one thing, and we ask the question: ‘Really, do you think so?’”
The Season 4 cast is full of familiar faces
The Borden “Monster” will reunite several characters in the Murphy universe. Beatty, whose parents are Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, previously appeared in “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” on FX.
Hall is set to appear in Murphy’s upcoming FX drama “The Beauty,” Krieps starred in “Monster” Season 3 as real-life Nazi Ilse Koch, and Hunnam, of course, is fresh off playing the title role in “The Ed Gein Story.”
Ryan Murphy regular and “American Horror Story” star Billie Lourd will play Lizzie’s older sister, Emma. “Dune: Prophecy’s” Jessica Barden will play Lizzie’s actress friend, Nance O’Neill.
No release date has been set
Netflix hasn’t announced the release date for the next season, which is to be expected since Season 3 just hit screens.
But “Monster” Season 4 is already filming in Los Angeles
Netflix announced on Oct. 9 that production is underway on the next installment in the “Monster” franchise in Los Angeles, California, with an image of Beatty and Hunnam side-by-side as the “Ed Gein” star hands off the torch to the next series lead. Check out the image below and stay tuned for more updates as “Monster” Season 4