Monster Season 4: The Lizzie Borden Story: Cast, Premiere Date, and Everything Else to Know

Monsters, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's anthology series on Netflix that explores the story of a real-life murderer each season, is taking aim at Lizzie Borden in its upcoming Season 4. Yes, we're getting another story that developed an outsized legacy thanks to Hollywood and other media obsessing over it for so long.

For the first three seasons, Murphy and Brennan told their versions of stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, and Ed Gein, respectively, while also examining the weirdly large impact they had on the media and Hollywood. Monster isn't just telling stories about famous murderers — it's just as much an exploration of why we care about them. With Lizzie Borden we're getting something a little bit different than those other tales, since the murders Borden is associated with are actually unsolved crimes. To this day, nobody really knows the true story except the people who were directly involved, and they're all long dead. Which should give Murphy and Brennan — who aren't strangers to embellishing a story for views — a lot of room to play.

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Here's what we know about Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story so far.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story expected premiere date

We don't have a specific release date just yet for this one, but Netflix has confirmed it'll be part of its 2026 slate of new shows. With each season of Monster thus far releasing in late September or early October, and with Season 4 already in production, it's a solid guess that Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will premiere on Netflix in September or October 2026. 

What is Monster Season 4 about?

Lizzie Borden, the subject of the upcoming season of Monster, was charged with and tried for the murder of her father and stepmother with an axe in Massachusetts in 1892. Lizzie became the primary suspect early on in the case and has stayed that way ever since — she's been a popular true crime subject for a century.

She was acquitted of the killings during her trial, but her pop culture legacy is nonetheless that of an axe murderer. Since she contradicted herself repeatedly during her testimony about the day of the murders, her account doesn't even make sense — and that has always made her the easiest target despite her acquittal.

This will be far from the first time that her story has been told on TV, as the tale of Lizzie Borden has been adapted a number of times since it was the subject of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents… The most notable recent TV version of the story came about a decade ago, when Lifetime produced a TV movie about the murders with Christina Ricci playing Lizzie, as well as a follow-up series that explored her attempts to go about her life after the murders. 

And on the bigger screen, the 2018 film Lizzie starred Chloe Sevigny as Lizzie and Kristen Stewart as the Bordens' housemaid, Sullivan — with this version of the story suggesting the two were lovers, and that it was their relationship that led them to murder.

Since we don't actually know what happened, and there isn't really a prevailing theory that most folks agree on, it's hard to guess what exactly Murphy and Brennan will do with the story. But with Sarah Paulson apparently being cast in the series as serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was born three decades after Borden died, you can bet they'll once again examine the unusual impact this story has had in the 130 years since it happened.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story cast and crew

As is usually the case with a Ryan Murphy series, the new season of Monster has a pretty stacked cast. Ella Beatty, who's playing Lizzie, is probably the least known member of the cast — though she's the daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Ella Beatty's career is just getting started. Charlie Hunnam, who played Ed Gein in Monster Season 3, and Rebecca Hall will play Lizzie's father and stepmother. Joey Pollari, who fans of the series will remember from his turn as Anthony Perkins during the Ed Gein season, will appear (per Variety) as Lizzie's uncle John Morse, one of the few folks other than Lizzy that people today think could have committed the murders. 

Murphy and Ian Brennan will be running things, as usual. The first episode will be directed by Max Winkler — son of Henry "The Fonz" Winkler, and husband to cast member Jessica Barden.

• Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden
• Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden
• Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden
• Vicky Krieps as Bridget Sullivan
• Billie Lourd as Emma Borden
• Jessica Barden as Nance O'Neill
• Joey Pollari as John Morse
• Sarah Paulson as Aileen Wuornos

Where to watch previous seasons of Monster

All three previous season of Monster are available to stream on Netflix.