“A terrifying true story”: Lesley Manville meets a “terrible” fate in Netflix drama Monster: The Ed Gein Story

There’s no shortage of fantastic true crime dramas at the moment, but here’s one that will really get you intrigued. Netflix is telling the terrifying true story of one of America’s most depraved killers in Monster: The Ed Gein story - and we’ll see Lesley Manville meeting a terrible fate as one of his victims. If you’re not familiar with the name Ed Gein, you’ll no doubt know some of the hair-raising films he inspired, including Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs.

The drama is the latest instalment of Netflix’s hit Monster anthology series, which follows some of history’s most abhorrent killers - and the streamer promises that this is its “most harrowing instalment yet”. Following the disturbing life of Ed Gein, who grew up in Wisconsin in a troubled household, it'll portray how that - and an obsession with his mother - would later lead to him committing a string of crimes in the 1940s and ’50s including killing, grave-robbing, and fashioning household items (yes, really) out of his victims.

While we wait for Monster: The Ed Gein Story to arrive on our screens, here’s everything you need to know about the series, including the plot, cast and release date.

What is Monster: The Ed Gein Story about?

As we mentioned, the eight-part series dramatises the life of famed murderer and body snatcher Ed Gein (played by Charlie Hunnam, pictured below). Described by Netflix as “the godfather of all serial killers”, he gained notoriety in the ’50s when the authorities uncovered some of his crimes.

As well as his horrifying actions, the series will dig into Gein’s backstory - including his childhood in an abusive household, and how this laid the groundwork for his crimes. It’ll introduce us to some of his victims, including hardware store owner Bernice Worden, played by Lesley Manville, whose shop Gein robbed, before murdering her, in 1957. Worden’s son became suspicious of Gein, leading to the police searching his farmhouse and unearthing a huge collection of objects created grotesquely from his victims.

According to Netflix's official synopsis: “In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, a friendly, mild-mannered recluse named Eddie Gein lived quietly on a decaying farm - hiding a house of horrors so gruesome it would redefine the American nightmare. Driven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein’s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades.

"From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant. Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre - he became the blueprint for modern horror.”

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the third in Netflix’s series of true serial killer dramas, Monster, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. The first series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, was released in 2022, while Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released in 2024.

Who was the real-life Ed Gein?

Gein - also known as “the Butcher of Plainfield” - was born in 1906 and grew up in a troubled household in Wisconsin before later committing a series of exceptionally gruesome crimes. He’s believed to have murdered at least 2 women, and he snatched bodies from local cemeteries - sometimes fashioning them into items of clothing or household pieces including lampshades.

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Although initially being deemed unfit to stand trial of one of his suspected murders due to mental illness, Gein was later found guilty of another murder - but spent the rest of his life in a mental health facility. Gein became the inspiration for horror icons including Norman Bates in 1960’s Psycho, Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974, and Buffalo Bill in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs.

Who’s in the cast of Monster: The Ed Gein Story?

The cast of Monster: The Ed Gein Story includes:

• Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Crimson Peak) as Ed Gein
• Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol) as Adeline Watkins
• Tom Hollander (Pride and Prejudice, In the Loop)
• Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird, Desperately Seeking Susan) as Augusta Gein
• Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, Old, Bergman Island) as Ilse Koch
• Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense, An Education, Rushmore) as Alma Reville
• Joey Pollari (American Crime; Love, Simon) as Anthony Perkins
• Tyler Jacob Moore (Shameless, Perry Mason) as Sheriff Schley
• Charlie Hall (Bel-Air, Monsters) as Deputy Worden
• Will Brill (The OA, Fellow Travelers) as Tobe Hooper
• Mimi Kennedy (Midnight in Paris, In the Loop) as Dr. Mildred Newman
• Robin Weigert (Deadwood, Smile) as Enid Watkins
• Lesley Manville (Another Year, Phantom Thread) as Bernice Worden

Is Netflix’s Monster series any good?

Yes - each retelling of infamous killers is intense and unsettling, which makes it a completely gripping watch. The Jeffrey Dahmer series became Netflix's second most-watched English-language series of all time within 28 days, and was nominated for 6 Emmys, while the Menendez Brothers series scored 11 nominations. There’s also a fourth series in the works which focuses on Lizzie Borden (played by Ella Beatty) - the American woman suspected of murdering her stepmother and father in 1892.

How can I watch Monster: The Ed Gein Story?

Netflix will release Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Friday 3rd October. While you wait, catch up on Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix.