Netflix’s controversial true crime series Monster is returning this autumn with a chilling tale at its heart. The series’ fourth instalment will focus on Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will be available to stream from 17 September and stars Ella Beatty as the infamous alleged murderer, along with Charlie Hunnam and Rebecca Hall as her supposed victims, Andrew and Abby.
In 1892, Lizzie, the daughter of a wealthy man, was accused of brutally killing her father and stepmother alongside her maid, Bridget Sullivan. Though she was acquitted, the murders haunted her, with a nursery rhyme immortalising her alleged crimes: “Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.”
Ella Beatty will play Lizzie and Charlie Hunnam will be her father(Image: Netflix)
The cover of Illustrated Police News in 1893, when Lizzie was acquitted(Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
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The Netflix series will dive into the “gruesome” story. When announcing the show’s new focus, the streaming site said: “When the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid find themselves trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty, they escape into a fantasy of sex, power, and revenge.
“The gruesome unsolved murders that follow don’t just shock the world — they give birth to an icon who refuses to live imprisoned in a cage, choosing instead to forge her own legend: shocking, monstrous, and gloriously free.”
The new series of Monster comes after creator Ryan Murphy received both Emmy nominations and criticism for his prior depictions of the Menedez brothers and Jeffrey Dahmer. After the first series, focusing on Dahmer’s murders, was released, Rita Isbell, the sister of his victim Errol Lindsey, called the series “harsh and carless”
“I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it,” she said after seeing the series recreate her reading of a victim impact statement at Dahmer’s trial. “They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”
Rebecca Hall will be Abby Borden(Image: Netflix)
Murphy was also heavily criticised by Erik Menendez over how the showrunner portrayed the story of his parents’ murder. Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of murdering their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez in 1996. In Monster, the brothers are portrayed as having an incestuous relationship and explored multiple theories about why they committed the murders, which they claimed stemmed from being abused as children.
In a message released via his wife Tammi, Menendez said: “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show.
“I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
“I know he hasn’t watched the show, so I find that curious,” Ryan told E! News in response. “I know this for a fact. I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it, he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch, who plays him.”
Ryan Murphy has been criticised for his Monster series(Image: Variety via Getty Images)
Referring to the insinuation that the brothers were engaged in incest, he added: “There are people who say that never happened. There were people who said it did happen.”
The third series of Monster focused on body snatcher Ed Gein, whose crimes inspired Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. Unlike the first three series, the fourth instalment is the first to focus on a female ‘monster’. Speaking about continuing the Monster series, star Ella Beatty said: “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.
“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.”
