All About the Next Installment (and Its First Female Lead)

There’s a new Monster to fear.

Netflix announced that the fourth season of its hit crime anthology series would focus on its first-ever alleged female killer: Lizzie Borden.

In addition to the renewal, the streamer also revealed that Ella Beatty was cast as Lizzie. The Feud: Capote vs. The Swans actress, who is the daughter of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, shared the news on Instagram, writing that she couldn’t “believe” she would get to work alongside “geniuses” Rebecca Hall and Vicky Krieps, who also joined the cast.

The Emmy-winning series, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, launched in 2022 with the story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Follow-up seasons have focused on the Menendez brothers and Ed Gein, whose gruesome crimes inspired horror films like Psycho.

Murphy told Variety in September 2025 that they choose their monsters not based on the crimes they commit, but on the bigger questions they raise about society. This filter has led them to rule out infamous killers like John Wayne Gacy and Joseph James DeAngelo, a.k.a. the Golden State Killer.

“When you look at those crimes, what are the themes there?” Murphy asked rhetorically. “It doesn’t ask you any questions about society. It feels too murderous — not interesting enough.”

Here’s everything to know about season 4 of Monster, including why the creators chose Lizzie Borden’s story.

What is Monster season 4 about?

The fourth season of Monster will adapt the story of Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her stepmother, Abby Borden, and her father, Andrew Borden, in Fall River, Mass., in August 1892. Both victims died from multiple blows to their heads with a hatchet, and speculation quickly fell to Lizzie, who was 32 at the time of the murders.

She was later tried and acquitted of the double homicide in 1893, per Smithsonian. Though Lizzie died in 1927 at the age of 66, her alleged crime inspired an eerie rhyme: “Lizzie Borden took an ax / And gave her mother forty whacks / When she saw what she had done / She gave her father forty-one.”

Who is in the cast?

Following an extensive multi-country search, per Deadline, production cast Beatty in the leading role, with Hall playing Lizzie’s stepmother and Charlie Hunnam playing her father.

Krieps — who appeared in season 3 of Monster alongside Hunnam — will portray Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family’s maid. Netflix announced in September 2025 that Billie Lourd was joining the cast as Lizzie’s older sister, Emma Borden.

Jessica Barden will also appear in season 4 of Monster as Nance O’Neill, a stage actress and friend of Lizzie’s who causes a rift between the two Borden sisters, per Deadline.

When will Monster season 4 start filming?

Deadline reported that production on the fourth season of Monster will begin filming in Los Angeles in the fall.

Henry Winkler’s son, Max Winkler, a Murphy-regular and Barden’s husband, will direct the season’s first episode, per the outlet.

What has Ryan Murphy said about Monster season 4?

In his interview with Variety, Murphy shed a little light on what was to come for the “female Monster season,” and noted that it’s not all about the 19th-century alleged murderess.

“It talks not just about Lizzie, but other infamous women who were branded as monsters,” he said, citing other notorious alleged killers like Countess Elizabeth Báthory and Aileen Wuornos. “There’s many different monsters that float through the season.”

He added that the fourth season of Monster profiles “famous women who have been labeled as one thing,” and asks the audience: “Really, do you think so?”

When will season 4 of Monster be released?

Netflix has not announced a release date for the fourth season of Monster.

The previous three seasons have been released in late September and early October, meaning the fourth season could also premiere around that time in 2026.

Where can I watch Monster?

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and Monster: The Ed Gein Story are all available to stream on Netflix.