James Oconner 
Anil Krishna 
Jonathan Millar 
Monster Season 4: Why Charlie Hunnam Returns and How the Anthology Works
© Netflix
Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story brings the true-crime series back with another infamous case, this time putting Lizzie Borden, played by Ella Beatty, at the center of the story. If you’ve watched the earlier seasons, though, there’s something else you might notice pretty quickly. Charlie Hunnam is back.
That’s probably going to make some viewers do a double take, considering Hunnam only just played Ed Gein in the previous season. But no, Gein hasn’t somehow wandered into the Borden story. Hunnam is playing Andrew Borden this time, Lizzie’s father, so it’s a completely different character.
Monster Is Still an Anthology
If you were wondering whether the different Monster seasons are secretly connected, they aren’t. The show is still working as an anthology, with each season telling a separate true-crime story.
The Jeffrey Dahmer season didn’t lead into the Menendez brothers’ story, and the Ed Gein season doesn’t set up Lizzie Borden either. The time period changes, the location changes, and the people at the center of the story change with it. There’s no shared Monster timeline where all these infamous cases are somehow happening alongside one another.
That also means you don’t have to go back and watch everything before starting The Lizzie Borden Story. If Season 4 is the one that interests you, you can pretty much start there and figure things out as you go.
Why Does Charlie Hunnam Keep Coming Back?
So, why use Charlie Hunnam again so soon? It seems to come down to Ryan Murphy and the show’s habit of bringing familiar actors back and giving them completely different parts.
Hunnam going from Ed Gein to Andrew Borden isn’t a clue that the characters are connected. It’s just an actor taking on another role, and Monster is getting more comfortable with doing that. Once you notice it, actually, you start seeing quite a few familiar faces.
Vicky Krieps is another example. She played Ilse Koch during the Ed Gein season and is now back as Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, the Borden family’s housemaid. Joey Pollari has also returned after playing Anthony Perkins in Season 3, although, again, he’s playing somebody completely different here.
So if you’re watching and suddenly think, “Hang on, I know that actor,” you probably do.
It’s Very Ryan Murphy
This kind of casting is hardly new for Ryan Murphy. Anyone who has followed American Horror Story for years will probably recognize the idea immediately.
Murphy has always liked bringing actors back and seeing what else they can do. Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Jessica Lange, for example, have all played very different characters across American Horror Story, sometimes looking so different in the roles that it takes a minute to realize who you’re watching.
Monster is starting to feel similar in that regard. Season 4 brings back actors from the previous seasons, while also pulling in performers from Murphy’s other shows. Sarah Paulson plays Aileen Wuornos, Billie Lourd plays Emma Borden, and Ella Beatty, who takes on the role of Lizzie, previously appeared in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.
It’s a way of making the series feel familiar without actually making the stories connected.
So, Is There a Connection Between the Seasons?
Not really, at least not where the story itself is concerned. The connection is in the casting and the people making the show, rather than some larger plot that carries from one season to another.
So Charlie Hunnam playing Andrew Borden doesn’t mean Ed Gein and Lizzie Borden exist in the same Monster story. Hunnam is simply playing another historical figure, much like the other returning actors are doing.
And that’s probably the easiest way to look at the series now. You may recognize the faces, but the stories themselves start over each time. Every season takes another notorious case and digs into a different time, place and set of people. So when Hunnam appears as Andrew Borden, there’s no need to search for some secret connection to Ed Gein. He’s just playing a new character in a new Monster story.
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