Netflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story Just Dropped Its Bloodiest Trailer — And Sarah Paulson Is Playing Aileen Wuornos

Ella Beatty transforms into Lizzie Borden in Ryan Murphy's newest Netflix anthology chapter.

Netflix has officially unleashed the full trailer for Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the fourth installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's record-breaking anthology — and it might be the most unsettling chapter yet. Opening on a blood-soaked whisper — "There's nothing wrong with blood. Blood is power. Blood is freedom." — the trailer confirms the series premieres September 17, and it wastes no time invoking the most famous nursery rhyme in true-crime history: "Lizzie Borden took an ax, gave her mother 40 whacks."

After Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story turned Evan Peters into an Emmy magnet, and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dominated every group chat in 2024, the franchise is finally handing the axe to its first female monster. Enter Ella Beatty — yes, daughter of Hollywood royalty Warren Beatty and Annette Bening — breaking out as Lizzie Borden, the Fall River woman accused of brutally killing her father and stepmother in 1892.

The cast around her is stacked. Charlie Hunnam, who already creeped everyone out as Ed Gein in last year's Monster: The Ed Gein Story, returns to the anthology as patriarch Andrew Borden, while Rebecca Hall plays stepmother Abby Borden. Vicky Krieps joins as Bridget Sullivan, the rebellious maid at the center of the household's dark dynamic. And in the twist nobody saw coming, Sarah Paulson appears as Aileen Wuornos, the real-life serial killer famously portrayed by Charlize Theron in Monster (2003). Rounding out the ensemble are Billie Lourd, Jessica Barden and Joey Pollari.

Per Netflix's official logline, the story follows "the repressed daughter of a wealthy New England family and her rebellious maid" who, "trapped in a house built on humiliation and cruelty," escape into "a fantasy of sex, power and revenge." The gruesome unsolved murders that follow don't just shock the world — they manufacture an icon. In reality, Lizzie Borden was acquitted in 1893, yet public opinion never forgave her, and that ambiguity is exactly the kind of moral gray zone Murphy and Brennan love to weaponize.

With Max Winkler and Sarah Adina Smith directing, the season looks less like a courtroom procedural and more like a gothic fever dream. Considering Dahmer racked up more than one billion viewing hours in under a month, expectations for this chapter are sky-high.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story swings onto Netflix on September 17. Whether you're in it for the true crime, the costumes, or simply to watch Sarah Paulson chew scenery, clear your weekend now — this is about to be your entire timeline's next obsession.