Monster season 4 will make history for Netflix's true crime anthology series

The biggest show on Netflix right now shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. One year after perhaps its most talked about season, Ryan Murphy's Monster anthology series returned with a new season focusing on another infamous murderer. This time around, Charlie Hunnam stars as Ed Gein in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the third season of the polarizing true crime drama.

While not nearly as successful as the previous seasons, The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, season 3 has risen to the peak of the top 10 most popular shows on Netflix ranking and clocked in with 12.2 million views in its first weekend of release. Surely, viewers will continue to binge-watch the new season throughout the rest of the month.

Ahead of the release of season 3, Netflix announced the renewal of Monster season 4 and revealed that Ella Beatty will portray Lizzie Borden in what's likely going to be dubbed The Lizzie Borden Story. That's a first for the franchise, too. The show hasn't yet had a season centered on a female murderer. However, the streamer also announced another piece of casting new that fans will surely love and that also makes some major history for the Monster anthology franchise.

Charlie Hunnam will return in Monster season 4, marking a casting first for the Ryan Murphy Netflix show

For the first time, a main cast member from the Monster anthology series will return for a second season in another major role. Charlie Hunnam led the cast of season 3 as the titular Ed Gein, and he's going to return in season 4, the first actor from the show to do so. But he won't be playing Gein in season 4. Hunnam will star in Monster season 4 as Lizzie Borden's father Andrew Jackson Borden.

It's no surprise that Hunnam will be returning as a different character for another season as Ryan Murphy frequently works with a lot of the same actors in multiple projects. Obviously, Murphy first worked with Evan Peters in American Horror Story, and the actor then went on to appear in a number of Murphy's series, most recently his Emmy-winning role as Dahmer in Monster season 1.

Monster hasn't yet had much overlap with its main cast members, with each season's cast beiing unique so far, which is likely based on the needs of the story. Depending on how long the series runs for, as there could definitely be more seasons to come after season 4 (though nothing has been announced just yet), more returning stars could appear in future seasons in new roles.

In addition to Beatty and Hunnam, the Monster season 4 cast also includes Rebecca Hall as Borden's stepmother Abby, Billie Lourd as Lizzie's sister Emma, Jessica Barden as actress and Lizzie's friend Nance O'Neill, and Vicky Krieps (who also appeared in season 3) as the Bordens' maid Bridget Sullivan. There are likely more casting announcements and additions to be made as filming on the new season just kicked off in Los Angeles for a predicted release sometime in 2026.

Stay tuned for more Netflix news and updates!