Monster Season 4 Just Leveled Up: Billie Lourd and Jessica Barden Join the Cast

Netflix is already loading up Monster season 4 before season 3 even drops. The next chapter tackles Lizzie Borden, and the show just added two more names: Billie Lourd and Jessica Barden. Yes, that means Charlie Hunnam is doing back-to-back Monster seasons, as two different people. Inside baseball? A little. Interesting? Definitely.

Quick catch-up on Monster

The whole Monster thing started with the ten-episode Dahmer series in 2022, which was a monster hit (pun intended). That success got Netflix to order two more seasons from creators Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy (co-creator of American Horror Story). The Menendez season landed last September and kicked up a lot of real-world chatter around the brothers. Season 3 shifts to Ed Gein, with Charlie Hunnam playing the killer/graverobber, and it premieres October 3. And while we wait for that, Netflix is already building season 4.

Season 4: Lizzie Borden gets the spotlight

This one is all about Lizzie Borden. Production is scheduled to start this fall in Los Angeles, with Max Winkler set to direct the first episode. Fun wrinkle: Winkler is married to Jessica Barden, who just joined the cast. Not unheard of, but still a notable bit of behind-the-scenes trivia.

The cast so far

• Ella Beatty (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans) as Lizzie Borden
• Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong) as Abby Borden, Lizzie's stepmother
• Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) as Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family maid
• Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) as Andrew Borden, Lizzie's father
• Billie Lourd (Scream Queens) as Emma Borden, Lizzie's older sister
• Jessica Barden (American Horror Stories) as Nance O'Neill, a stage actress whose close friendship with Lizzie reportedly drove a wedge between Lizzie and Emma

Who was Lizzie Borden, again?

Lizzie Borden lived in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. In 1892, she was accused of killing her father and stepmother with an axe in their home. She was acquitted, but the crime was so brutal it became a national fixation and turned Lizzie into a permanent pop culture figure.

Hollywood has circled her story a lot: Christina Ricci did the Lifetime movie Lizzie Borden Took an Ax in 2014, then the 2015 limited series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles took a fictional swing at Lizzie's post-trial life. In 2018, Chloe Sevigny starred in the feature film Lizzie, with Kristen Stewart as her lover, Bridget Sullivan.

My read

Billie Lourd as Emma suggests the season will dig into the family dynamics, not just the crime-scene headlines. Jessica Barden as Nance O'Neill points to the thorny post-trial relationships that kept Lizzie in the gossip pages. And yes, Charlie Hunnam doing Ed Gein in season 3 and Andrew Borden in season 4 is a wild bit of casting whiplash I did not have on my bingo card.

Curious where you land: are Lourd and Barden the right fits for this chapter of Monster?