Clear your queue — Netflix’s next Monster season lands very soon

Netflix is at it again with another true crime entry that’s bound to get folks either obsessed or annoyed—or possibly both. Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is the latest chapter in the streamer’s soapy anthology, turning up next month with more murder, more historical misery, and, apparently, the show’s first proper 'female Monster'.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story lands on Netflix 17 September 2026.

This time, Ryan Murphy and crew are digging into the infamous Lizzie Borden case—that Victorian bit of axe-related unpleasantness from New England. In case you need a refresher: The original Borden story involved Lizzie standing trial in 1892, accused of brutally killing her father and stepmother (with an axe, yes). Ultimately she was found not guilty, but if you know Murphy’s track record, subtlety won’t exactly be the main ingredient here.

The cast and what’s new

The anthology’s gone through a roster of American nightmares already—Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, and Ed Gein (with Charlie Hunnam as Gein last season). Hunnam’s back in the lineup, this time as Andrew Borden, the unfortunate patriarch with a very cut-short life expectancy.

• Ella Beatty steps in as Lizzie Borden herself
• Vicky Krieps plays Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family maid
• Rebecca Hall as Abby Borden
• Billie Lourd as Emma
• Jessica Barden as Nance O’Neil

The whole thing’s pitched as eight episodes, with Ian Brennan—series co-creator—on writing duties. This chapter looks keen to mess about with ideas of gender, rage, and what passes for ‘female empowerment’ in 1890s Massachusetts. The official description is, as you'd expect, maximum-overwrought: two women trapped in a ‘house built on humiliation and cruelty’, escaping into a land of ‘sex, power, and revenge’, before everything goes properly off the rails and Lizzie becomes an (alleged) axe-murdering icon.

First female 'Monster'

The angle this year is Lizzie’s rage and repression—with the marketing making a song and dance about finally centring on a woman accused of monstrous deeds. It’s meant to be a different sort of true crime—a bit of psycho-sexual tension, a lot of melodrama, and, let’s be honest, likely more axe close-ups than is strictly necessary.

Ella Beatty herself, who’s taking on the title role, talked up the timeliness of the story and its new direction for the franchise:

‘This season gives us our first female Monster and delves into female rage and repression, which I’ve found to feel strikingly relevant. I cannot wait to share it with the world.’

If you’ve stuck with Murphy’s anthology so far, expect the same guilty-pleasure blend of camp and gore. If not, you’ve got till September 17 to decide if a spot of Victorian axe murder is your cup of tea.