Netflix’s Monster anthology returns this autumn with its first female lead, turning to one of America’s most notorious unsolved murder cases for its fourth season. Ella Beatty stars as Lizzie Borden, the Massachusetts woman who was tried and acquitted over the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother.
Netflix has now confirmed the release date and shared the first images from Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, including a blood-covered Beatty in character. The eight-part season also brings together Rebecca Hall, Vicky Krieps and Charlie Hunnam for another Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan true-crime drama.
Here is everything confirmed about the release date, cast and story.
When Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Released?
All eight episodes of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will arrive on Netflix on Thursday, 17 September 2026. The complete season will be released together, allowing viewers to watch the full story without waiting for a weekly rollout.
What Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story About?
The fourth season follows Lizzie Borden, the daughter of a wealthy New England family who became the subject of national attention after her father, Andrew Borden, and stepmother, Abby Borden, were murdered inside their Fall River home in 1892. Lizzie was arrested and placed on trial for both killings but ultimately acquitted. The murders remain officially unsolved, and the case has continued to inspire books, films, television dramas and the famous schoolyard rhyme associated with her name.
Netflix’s version will explore Lizzie’s life inside the Borden household and her relationship with the family’s live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan. The official synopsis describes the women as trapped inside a home defined by humiliation and cruelty before escaping into fantasies involving sex, power and revenge. The murders that follow turn Lizzie into a lasting cultural figure, with the series exploring how one young woman changed public ideas about who could be capable of such violence.
Who Plays Lizzie Borden?
Ella Beatty leads the cast as Lizzie Borden. Her previous credits include Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and the Oscar-nominated film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Beatty described the role as an opportunity to explore a complicated figure and a crime that has become almost mythic. She also explained that the season will examine female rage and repression through the anthology’s first female subject. The newly released first-look image shows Beatty as a blood-covered Lizzie, although Netflix is keeping the circumstances surrounding the scene under wraps.
Who Is in the Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Cast?
Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) plays Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family’s live-in maid, with Rebecca Hall (Passing, Christine) as Lizzie’s stepmother, Abby Borden. Charlie Hunnam returns to the Monster anthology as Lizzie’s father, Andrew Borden, after previously playing Ed Gein in the third season. Billie Lourd (American Horror Story) appears as Lizzie’s older sister, Emma, and Jessica Barden (The End of the F**ing World*, Dune: Prophecy) plays actor Nance O’Neil, who later became a close friend of Lizzie. Sarah Paulson and Joey Pollari also feature in the series, although details about their characters have not yet been announced.
Is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Based on a True Story?
The series is inspired by the real murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, who were found dead inside their Massachusetts home on 4 August 1892. Lizzie was charged after investigators became suspicious of her changing statements and behaviour surrounding the killings. She was acquitted the following year, and nobody else was ever convicted.
The case has remained part of American popular culture for more than a century. Previous dramatisations include The Legend of Lizzie Borden, Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles and the 2018 film Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart. As with previous Monster seasons, Netflix’s series is a dramatisation rather than a documentary. Some scenes, conversations and relationships are therefore likely to be interpreted or expanded for the story.
Who Created Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?
Ian Brennan created and wrote the new season, continuing his work across the Monster anthology. Ryan Murphy returns as an executive producer alongside Brennan, Max Winkler, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Louise Shore, Nissa Diederich, Todd Kubrak, Carl Franklin and Tanase Popa. Winkler directs six of the eight episodes, with Sarah Adina Smith directing Episodes 4 and 6.
What Were the Previous Monster Seasons About?
The anthology began with Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, starring Evan Peters. The series became one of Netflix’s most-watched English-language shows and earned Niecy Nash-Betts an Emmy for her performance. The second season focused on Erik and Lyle Menendez, played by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, following their conviction for murdering their parents. Charlie Hunnam led the third instalment as Ed Gein, whose crimes later influenced fictional killers in films including Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs. Hunnam now returns in a completely different role as Andrew Borden.
CultureCues Final Thoughts
For CultureCues, Lizzie Borden feels like a huge subject for the next Monster season. Her story has been retold countless times, but the questions surrounding the murders and her acquittal have never disappeared. Making Lizzie the anthology’s first female lead also gives the series an opportunity to explore how gender, repression and public perception influenced the way her case became a legend.
Ella Beatty looks striking in the first image, and the cast surrounding her is excellent. Rebecca Hall and Vicky Krieps are particularly strong choices for a story likely to depend as much on the suffocating atmosphere inside the Borden home as the murders themselves. The anthology has faced criticism over how it dramatises real crimes, so the handling of the victims and the unanswered questions surrounding the case will matter. However, with eight episodes and one of history’s most debated murder suspects at its centre, this is likely to become one of Netflix’s biggest true-crime releases of the autumn.
Lizzie Borden took an axe, and Netflix is ready to take another swing at the story.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story arrives on Netflix on 17 September 2026.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.