There’s a reason Lizzie Borden has remained one of America’s most infamous murder suspects for more than a century. Now, Netflix is giving the legend the Monster treatment.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story arrives Sept. 17 as the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Emmy-winning anthology series, with Ella Beatty stepping into the role of the Massachusetts woman accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892.
And yes, the first teaser is exactly as bloody as you’d expect.
Beatty appears covered in blood in the brief first look, immediately raising the question the series is built around: Is this the blood of the Bordens, Lizzie’s or someone else entirely?
Netflix isn’t giving that answer away just yet.
Instead, the new season is promising a different kind of Monster story, one that explores the psychology behind a notorious woman whose name became permanently attached to one of the most recognizable murder cases in American history.
Lizzie Borden Gets The ‘Monster’ Treatment
The new season begins inside the Borden household, where Lizzie is portrayed as a young woman living under the suffocating expectations of her wealthy New England family.
Her relationship with Bridget Sullivan, the family’s live-in maid, becomes central to the story. The two find themselves trapped in a home defined by humiliation and cruelty, eventually escaping into a fantasy where sex, power and revenge offer a way out.
That fantasy takes a grim turn.
The murders that follow transform Lizzie from a young woman at the center of a family scandal into a cultural icon. More than 130 years later, the question of whether she actually committed the killings continues to fascinate audiences.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story appears less interested in simply retelling the case than examining how Lizzie became the legend.
That makes her a particularly fitting subject for the anthology, which has spent three seasons exploring the lives of real people whose crimes have become larger than the individuals themselves.
Ella Beatty Leads A New Kind Of ‘Monster’
Beatty becomes the first woman to take the central “Monster” role in the anthology, following performances from Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer, Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Erik and Lyle Menendez, and Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein.
The casting also reunites Beatty with Murphy after her appearance in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans. She recently appeared in Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which earned an Oscar nomination.
For Beatty, playing Borden offered an opportunity to dig into a character who has remained difficult to pin down.
“I am so excited for viewers to experience our exploration of Lizzie Borden’s story and the questions that her life animates to this day,” Beatty tells Tudum. “It has been a dream come true to investigate this complicated person’s psychology and to examine an American crime that feels almost mythic in proportion. This season gives us our first female Monster and delves into female rage and repression which I’ve found to feel strikingly relevant. I cannot wait to share it with the world.”
That focus on rage and repression could give the season a different flavor from the anthology’s previous chapters. Rather than centering solely on the mechanics of a notorious crime, the series is positioning Lizzie’s story around the forces that shaped her before the axe ever entered the picture.
Meet The Borden Family
Beatty is joined by an ensemble cast that brings the Borden household, and the people orbiting it, to life.
Vicky Krieps plays Bridget Sullivan, Lizzie’s live-in maid. Krieps previously appeared in Phantom Thread and the third Monster installment, Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
Charlie Hunnam, who portrayed Ed Gein in the previous season, returns in an entirely different role as Andrew Borden, Lizzie’s father.
Rebecca Hall plays Abby Borden, Lizzie’s stepmother, while Billie Lourd portrays Emma, Lizzie’s older sister.
Jessica Barden rounds out the principal cast as Nance O’Neil, an actor and friend of Lizzie’s.
Sarah Paulson is also part of the season, adding another familiar Monster alum to the growing ensemble.
A Franchise Built On Infamous Names
The Lizzie Borden chapter follows three seasons that turned some of the most notorious criminal cases in modern history into Netflix events.
The franchise began with DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, starring Evan Peters as the serial killer. The series became one of Netflix’s most-watched shows, reaching 1 billion viewing hours within its first 60 days and earning 13 Emmy nominations. Niecy Nash-Betts won for her performance as Glenda Cleveland.
The second installment, Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story, shifted the focus to the brothers convicted of killing their parents in 1996. Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez played the siblings, and the season earned 11 Emmy nominations.
Most recently, Monster: The Ed Gein Story explored the life of the Wisconsin killer whose crimes later influenced horror classics including Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. The series debuted with 12.2 million views globally in its first three days and reached No. 1 in 11 countries.
Now, the anthology is heading back more than a century for its latest case.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story premieres Sept. 17 on Netflix.
