Ian Brennan has a confession about Monster season four: the Lizzie Borden story was not the obvious choice. It was the accidental one.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the creator of the Netflix true-crime anthology explains how he and Ryan Murphy settled on the infamous axe murderer for the upcoming season. The answer, he says, came from Murphy’s childhood. Literally.
“We were trying to crack the Luigi [Mangione] story,” Brennan reveals. That case involved the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a crime that captured the nation in 2024. But the duo decided it was too new and too obscure. Then Murphy spoke up.
“I’ve always wanted to do Lizzie Borden,” he said. Brennan says the idea clicked immediately. “The second he said that, I was like, ‘Ooh, ooh. I had not thought of this.'”
How the Lizzie Borden Idea Came From Kindergarten
Murphy’s connection to Borden runs deeper than most. He won a choral competition in kindergarten singing the Lizzie Borden rhyme. That detail, Brennan admits, was news to him.
“That’s literally all I knew about it,” Brennan says. “I didn’t know until researching it that she got away with it. That was totally news to me.”
The rhyme itself became a plot device. It shows up in the trailer and the first episode of the season.
The Triptych of Female Murderers
Brennan describes the season as a “triptych” of three women: Elizabeth Bathory, Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden. Each lived in a different era, but each understood the next.
“Lizzie knew about Elizabeth Bathory, and Aileen Wuornos knew about Lizzie Borden,” Brennan explains. “To have those three stories talk to one another made it feel much more contemporary and of the moment.”
The central theme is rage. Brennan says the show looks at female rage as a throughline rather than an aberration. He frames the story as about “the cages we put women in and the things they will do to get out of those cages.”
A New Lead and a Familiar Face
The cast includes Ella Beatty as Borden, Charlie Hunnam as her father Andrew Borden, Rebecca Hall as stepmother Abby Borden, and Vicky Krieps as housekeeper Bridget a.k.a. Maggie. Krieps plays double duty, also as Elizabeth Bathory in flashback.
Sarah Paulson rounds out the ensemble as Aileen Wuornos. Her appearance, Brennan says, delivers a triptych of serial killers to explore female rage.
The Selection Process Is the Hard Part
Brennan insists that writing Monster seasons is not difficult. The hard part is choosing the subject.
“The seasons are not hard to write. They’re hard to select,” he says. “Most murderers are not interesting at all. What they do is just horrible. So it ends up being a taste thing.”
He and Murphy look for cases that gain their own momentum. “When Ryan and I start talking about a subject and it gets its own gravity where it just feels like this thing rolling down a hill, we’ll start laughing and smiling,” he explains. “Then we’re like, ‘Oh, we found it.'”
Ten Seasons Total
Brennan says the pair have a plan for ten seasons of Monster. He describes the process as exhausting but rewarding.
“There’s a hopper of three [options for next season],” he says. “It’s a fairly exhaustive list, but it’s tricky. You’d be surprised at how many subjects we start and then abandon.”
The bar is high. “You’re asking people to spend seven or eight or nine or 10 hours getting inside this person’s head. They better be really interesting.”
What the Interview Shows
Brennan’s admission is funny because it is so candid. He did not set out to make a statement about gender. He set out to make a good story, and Lizzie Borden just happened to be the best one.
The season is now streaming. The show has built a reputation for controversy, and Murphy described the anthology as about the nature vs. nurture question.
Key Facts Box
– Season: Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, season four
– Platform: Netflix
– Streaming status: Now available
– Cast: Ella Beatty, Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Paulson
– Subjects: Lizzie Borden, Elizabeth Bathory, Aileen Wuornos
Season Order
| Season | Subject |
|——–|———|
| One | Jeffrey Dahmer |
| Two | Richard Ramirez |
| Three | Ed Gein |
| Four | Lizzie Borden |
The selection process for Monster is a reminder that sometimes the best idea comes from the strangest place. In this case, it came from a nursery rhyme and a kindergarten choir competition.
Source material: “‘Monster’ Creator Ian Brennan Shares 10-Season Plan and Dives Into First Female Serial Killer Season With Wild ‘Lizzie Borden Story’,” The Hollywood Reporter.
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