Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology series has returned with its fourth installment, and Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming in full on Netflix. All eight episodes dropped simultaneously, giving viewers the entire story of one of America’s most infamous unsolved murder cases in one go.

What the Season Is About

This fourth season centers on Lizzie Borden, tried and acquitted for the 1892 axe murders of her father Andrew Borden and stepmother Abby Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts. It’s a significant shift for the franchise — the first installment built around an alleged female perpetrator, and notably, the only subject in the anthology’s history who was never actually convicted. Despite the real Borden’s acquittal, the series dramatizes her story as though she were directly responsible for the killings, continuing the show’s pattern of taking creative liberties with its true-crime source material.

The official logline describes a repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid finding themselves trapped in a household built on humiliation and cruelty, escaping into a fantasy that spirals into violence. Creator Ian Brennan has said the season is built around themes of misogyny, gender roles, and the societal expectations placed on women in the Victorian era.

Release & Series Snapshot

Detail	Information
Title	Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
Platform	Netflix
Release Date	September 17, 2026
Episodes	8 (all released together)
Total Runtime	Approx. 6 hours 30 minutes
Episode Length	39–62 minutes each
Creator/Showrunner	Ian Brennan (co-created with Ryan Murphy)
Lead	Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden
Previous Seasons	Dahmer (S1), Menendez Brothers (S2), Ed Gein (S3)

The Cast

Ella Beatty, previously seen in Ryan Murphy’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” and Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” takes the lead role as Lizzie Borden. She’s joined by a heavyweight supporting cast: Vicky Krieps as maid Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden, and Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden. The ensemble also includes Jessica Barden, Joey Pollari, and Billie Lourd.

In one of the season’s more unconventional creative choices, Sarah Paulson appears as serial killer Aileen Wuornos — despite Borden and Wuornos never having been alive at the same time. Murphy has explained this crossover as a deliberate thematic device tying into the show’s broader exploration of female rage across different eras.

Production Background

The season was first announced in development in July 2025, with Beatty, Hall, and Krieps cast that same month, followed by Hunnam joining in September 2025. Principal photography took place in Los Angeles, running from September 2025 through March 2026. Netflix built anticipation with a first-look image released August 4, 2026, showing a blood-covered Beatty as Borden, followed by an official trailer on August 20 and a New York premiere event on September 16 — the night before the full season dropped.

How It Fits the Franchise

Monster began in 2022 with its Jeffrey Dahmer season, which became one of Netflix’s biggest breakout hits and spawned the anthology format. Season 2 tackled the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, while Season 3 turned to Ed Gein, the case that inspired films like “Psycho” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” The Lizzie Borden installment continues that same true-crime-meets-dramatization formula, but marks a franchise first by centering a woman as its subject, and doing so around a case where guilt was never legally established.

Should You Watch It

With a runtime just over six and a half hours across eight episodes, it’s a manageable weekend binge. Given the franchise’s track record of generating both viewership numbers and controversy over its dramatized liberties, expect The Lizzie Borden Story to spark similar debate — particularly given its choice to blend historical ambiguity with confident dramatization, and its unusual decision to write in a character, Wuornos, who never crossed paths with Borden in reality.