Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story – Netflix’s First Female “Monster”

Netflix released a 56-second teaser for Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s anthology series. The trailer opens with the familiar nursery rhyme “Lizzie Borden took an ax…,” then shows Ella Beatty as a blood-splattered Lizzie. The eight-episode season is scheduled to premiere September 17 on Netflix.

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In August 1892, Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby were bludgeoned to death with a hatchet in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. Their 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie Borden, was arrested on August 11 and tried the following year. A jury acquitted her after less than an hour of deliberation. The case has endured in American folklore, most famously through a children’s rhyme that exaggerates the number of blows.

Rolling Stone

• Ryan Murphy – co-creator, executive producer; longtime television auteur.

Variety Magazine

• Ian Brennan – co-creator, writer, executive producer.

Variety Magazine

• Ella Beatty – actress portraying Lizzie Borden; daughter of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty.

Hollywood Reporter

• Charlie Hunnam – returns as Andrew Borden, previously portrayed Ed Gein in season 3.

Out Magazine

• Vicky Krieps – plays Bridget Sullivan, the Bordens’ live-in maid.

Rolling Stone

• Rebecca Hall – cast as stepmother Abby Borden.

Rolling Stone

• Episodes: 8 total.

Hollywood Reporter

• Premiere: September 17 (scheduled).

Deadline Hollywood

• Historical blows: Variety reports “nearly 40 axe blows” delivered to both parents; Rolling Stone notes 11 blows to Andrew and 18-19 to Abby.

Rolling Stone

Ella Beatty described the project as an opportunity to examine “female rage and repression,” calling the role a “dream come true” and emphasizing the mythic stature of the Borden case.

Rolling Stone

The season marks the anthology’s first focus on a female perpetrator, expanding the “Monster” franchise’s examination of notorious killers to include gendered narratives. By situating Lizzie Borden alongside other historical figures such as Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, and Ed Gein, the series invites viewers to reconsider how cultural myths about violence are constructed around women.

People Magazine

Sources differ on the exact number of axe blows recorded in the 1892 murders. Variety cites “nearly 40” total blows, while Rolling Stone provides a more granular count—11 to Andrew and 18-19 to Abby. Neither source confirms which figure the series will adopt, leaving the portrayal of the murders’ brutality uncertain.

Rolling Stone

• “I like investigating [the Borden] story because, in many ways, you can look at what it deals with women and society and it’s very about today. It’s a very modern story. The story of Lizzie Borden is: Did she do it or did she not? There are many theories,” — Ryan Murphy, brennan and executive

Hollywood Reporter

• “This season gives us our first female Monster and delves into female rage and repression which I’ve found to feel strikingly relevant,” — Ella Beatty

People Magazine

The series will debut on Netflix on September 17, after which audience and critical reception will indicate how the reinterpretation of Lizzie Borden’s story resonates with contemporary viewers.

Out Magazine