For over a century, a rhyme has dogged her. Lizzie Borden took an ax And gave her mother forty whacks. Most people know the lyrics before they know a thing about the woman behind them, a wealthy New England daughter, acquitted of a crime the whole country was sure she committed, who just kept living in the same small town as everyone who thought otherwise. That contradiction is the sort of story Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology was made for, and its fourth installment may be its most daring swing yet: the franchise’s first season entirely centered on a woman.
Everything That’s Happened So Far
The season was first announced as being in development on July 8, 2025, with Rebecca Hall and Vicky Krieps cast as Lizzie Borden, with Ella Beatty cast later that month. Charlie Hunnam joined the cast in September, fresh off his acclaimed turn as Ed Gein in the third season of Monster. Production was scheduled to wrap by summer 2026, and on August 11, Netflix released the first teaser trailer for the season, and on August 20, a full-length trailer that gave audiences their first real look at Hunnam, Hall, and a genuinely unexpected addition: Sarah Paulson, playing real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in scenes set decades after the Borden murders. We now know that Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will premiere on Netflix on September 17, 2026.
The Story and The Core Premise
The season, according to Netflix’s official logline, follows the “repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid” as they are trapped in a house “built on humiliation and cruelty,” and escape into a shared fantasy of sex, power, and revenge. Next came the real, still-unsolved axe murders of Lizzie’s father and stepmother-a case that shocked the nation, ended in an acquittal and left her free for the rest of her life, but a permanent suspect in the court of public opinion.
But the season doesn’t stay in 1892, which is true to the Monster franchise’s now-familiar structure. The introduction of Aileen Wuornos in later scenes hints at a multi-timeline approach, similar to what season 3 did with Ed Gein, using Lizzie’s legacy as a thread that reaches forward into a very different kind of true-crime story decades later.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story TV Series Quotes and Dialogues
Now, let’s take a look at some of the best dialogues and quotes from Netflix’s latest TV series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story that will make you even more excited for this series.
1. – Lizzie Borden took an axe Gave her mother 40 whacks.
– When she saw what she had done She gave her father 41.
2. There’s nothing wrong with blood. Blood is power. Blood is freedom.
3. This house, it’s like a puzzle to me. You’re like a puzzle to me.
4. Never met anyone like you.
5. Your parents, and the way they treat you, they deserve it.
6. This is a prison for me, Maggie, and I have to escape it.
7. – A knife is too easy. And a rifle is almost too kind a way to go.
– No, I know how we’re gonna kill them.
8. No way a woman could do this. This is the work of a man.
9. Just let me have the first whack.
10. – No one really knows what happened that day.
– Oh, I know what happened.
The Cast Bringing Fall River Back to Life
The title role goes to Ella Beatty, the daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, in her biggest screen credit to date after her TV debut in Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. the Swans. Murphy, the anthology’s first female anchor, who has called the move long overdue, Vicky Krieps is Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, the Borden family’s live-in maid and Lizzie’s closest confidante; Charlie Hunnam is Lizzie’s father, Andrew Borden; and Rebecca Hall is her stepmother, Abby. Lizzie’s older sister, Emma (Billie Lourd), completes the immediate family, while Jessica Barden plays Nance O’Neil, an actor and friend of Lizzie’s, and Joey Pollari plays John Vinnicum Morse, Lizzie’s uncle and one of the real-life prime suspects in the case. Sarah Paulson, a Murphy veteran, stars as Aileen Wuornos. Max Winkler and Sarah Adina Smith direct the episodes.
Production background, budget and release
As with most streaming platforms, Netflix has not officially released a production budget for this season or any of its other titles. What’s confirmed: all eight episodes will arrive at once on Sept. 17, 2026, maintaining the franchise’s binge-friendly release model (versus a weekly rollout). The season was created by Ian Brennan, who executive produces it with Ryan Murphy, who also executive produced every previous Monster installment.
A New England Story of the 1890s
The series is set mostly in 1892 Fall River, Massachusetts, a place and time of tight Victorian social codes, rigid gender roles, and a justice system unready for a female murder suspect from the upper classes. Part of the reason the Borden case still holds us in its thrall is history: in an era when women of Lizzie’s class were expected to be silent, obedient, and without agency, the notion that one of them might have grabbed an ax was almost too discordant for the court to grasp, perhaps the reason she was acquitted in the first place.
Why This Installment Stands Out
Monster has built its reputation on a certain formula: take a real-life, culturally embedded criminal case and force audiences to sit with uncomfortable questions about what in fact creates a “monster.” Dahmer was one of Netflix’s most-watched series ever in its first season, surpassing a billion view hours in its first 60 days.
The story of the Menendez brothers in Season 2 got 11 Emmy nominations. The Ed Gein Story in Season 3 topped charts in 11 countries and received seven own Primetime Emmy nominations. Lizzie Borden breaks that pattern most obviously: for the first time, the “monster” is not a man. The franchise, on its own, reframes the entire premise it has been working under, redirecting questions of violence, repression and power into questions of what occurs when a woman is driven to her breaking point in a world built to silence her.
Who This Season Is Meant For
If you’re a true crime obsessive, a prestige psychological drama fan, or you’ve ever fallen under the spell of Monster’s particular mix of gothic style and moral queasiness, this is squarely for you. And it should score with anyone attracted to period pieces that use their historical milieu to interrogate very modern questions of gender and power this isn’t just a murder mystery in corsets, it’s using one of America’s most infamous unsolved cases to ask what “monstrous” really means when the person behind the ax was never supposed to be capable of picking one up.
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Conclusion
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story arrives with all the power of a franchise that’s made true crime appointment television three times in a row, and it’s leveraging that to finally give its most complicated question to a woman. Whatever Lizzie Borden did was either wrong, guilty or something far messier than either label allows, but one thing is certain: This is shaping up to be one of the most talked-about entries in the Monster franchise yet. Mark your calendar for September 17, because this one is meant for a one-sitting binge.
Watch Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix
