Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story: Cast, Plot and Reception
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is the fourth season of Netflix's true crime anthology, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. It arrived on 17 September 2026 and revisits the 1892 killings of Andrew and Abby Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts. Ella Beatty plays Lizzie, the daughter tried and acquitted of the crime. Critics have been sharply divided over how it tells the story.
What the season is about
The series follows Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. Netflix presents it as a story of female rage and repression inside a cruel Victorian household. All eight episodes were released together, in keeping with the earlier seasons.
It is a break from the franchise's usual pattern. This is the first season to centre on a woman, and on someone who was never convicted of the crimes. It is also the first not set mainly in the twentieth century.
The real case
On 4 August 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were found killed inside their Fall River home. Lizzie, Andrew's daughter from his first marriage, was charged and stood trial in 1893. A jury acquitted her, and no one else was ever convicted. The case became a fixture of American folklore, helped along by a well-known skipping rhyme.
Because the evidence is thin and the mystery has never been settled, the story leaves plenty of room for interpretation. The series uses that room generously.
Cast and characters
- Ella Beatty plays Lizzie Borden.
- Charlie Hunnam plays her father, Andrew Borden. He previously led the Ed Gein season.
- Rebecca Hall plays Abby Borden, Lizzie's stepmother.
- Vicky Krieps plays Bridget "Maggie" Sullivan, the family's live-in maid.
- Billie Lourd plays Emma, Lizzie's older sister.
- Jessica Barden plays Nance O'Neil.
- Sarah Paulson, Joey Pollari and Oliver Spenceman complete the main lineup.
Beatty was cast in July 2025 alongside Hall and Krieps, and Hunnam joined that September. Paulson and Lourd are familiar faces from Murphy's earlier work.
How faithful is it?
Not very, and the show does not pretend otherwise. The writers treat the murders as a starting point for gothic horror, melodrama and a romance between Lizzie and Maggie. That relationship is speculation rather than established history.
The season also reaches beyond Fall River. It draws lines between Lizzie, the legendary Elizabeth Báthory and the real-life killer Aileen Wuornos, arguing that violent women are linked by the way they were confined and silenced. Several critics noted that some of the grisly scenes depict events that never happened or did not unfold as shown.
A thin source for eight episodes
Earlier seasons covered lengthy criminal careers. Here the source material is essentially one double murder and a trial, so the writers had to fill the time. Brennan wrote every episode, and a good deal of the invention comes from that need to stretch the story.
Critical reception
The response has been mixed to negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the season held 38% approval from 29 critic reviews. Metacritic gave it 47 out of 100, which it classes as mixed or average. Audience scores have been lower still.
Praise has gone mainly to the performances and production design. Rebecca Hall's Abby drew particular mention, and some reviewers liked the pairing of Beatty and Krieps. Variety called the season refreshing and unlike anything else in the franchise.
Others were scathing. The Guardian gave it two stars out of five and objected to its heavy focus on sexuality and graphic violence. Time argued that it has little new to say about female rage. Many reviewers disliked the way it fuses three different women into one theory about killers.
How it fits the Monster franchise
The anthology began with Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022. The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story followed in 2024 and The Ed Gein Story in 2025. Each season has a new cast and a new case, so you can start here without having seen the others.
Like its predecessors, it has split opinion over whether such dramatisations explore their subjects or simply exploit them. The Borden season makes that debate louder, because it invents so much around a case with so few proven facts.
Should you watch it?
If you want a faithful account of the Borden trial, this is not it. A documentary or a good history of the case will serve you better. If you enjoy stylised, blood-soaked period drama and strong performances, it may suit you more than the reviews suggest.
It is worth knowing the real outline of the case first. That makes it easier to see where the series follows the record and where it has simply made things up. Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is streaming now on Netflix.