The new season of the true crime anthology created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan focuses on one of the most disturbing cases of the 20th century: Ed Gein. Without fanfare, the series lands on Netflix and reignites the debate about how far fiction should go when portraying such sensitive real events, with a proposal that many viewers describe as the rawest and most terrifying of the franchise.
On screen, Charlie Hunnam takes on the challenge of embodying Gein, accompanied by Laurie Metcalf as his mother, Roseanne. The season builds a narrative that aims to explain the origin and impact of the so-called "Plainfield Butcher," while also opening up an uncomfortable discussion: Are we understanding the monster or contributing to turning it into an icon?
What is this installment of Monster about?
The series reconstructs Gein's life in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and how his actions ended up breaking into popular culture. The approach mixes police investigation, family context and pop culture pieces to show the journey he takes from the farm to Hollywood. All under the direction of Murphy and Brennan, with Max Winkler directing a good part of the episodes with a staging as elegant as it is disturbing.
The story offers layers of themes: from the mother-child relationship and social isolation to the media's exploitation of crime and the collective fascination with horror. It doesn't simply recreate the events: questions why we look, and how that gaze transforms the protagonists into art and entertainment.
Who was Ed Gein?
Born in 1906, Gein grew up in a rural setting under the iron authority of an ultra-religious mother and an alcoholic father. The family moved to the outskirts of Plainfield, where Ed barely socialized and suffered ridicule for his way of speaking and his averted gaze. The death of his father and, later, that of his brother Henry in a fire, left Ed alone with Augusta, whom he idolized to the point of obsession.
When his mother died in 1945, Gein sealed the rooms she used and kept them intact as a sanctuary, while the rest of the house deteriorated. From then on, his mental drift sharpened between extreme readings and macabre fantasies, in an isolation that led to a total disconnection from the community.
Crimes and investigation
In 1954, Mary Hogan disappeared; in 1957, Bernice Worden disappeared. The investigation led to the Gein farm, where police found shocking evidence and Worden's body. During interrogation, Ed confessed to the murder of both women and admitted to desecrating graves to fashion objects and clothing from human remains. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and declared unfit for trial that same year.
In 1968, he was found competent to stand trial for Worden's murder and convicted, but was again committed due to insanity. He spent the rest of his life in psychiatric institutions until he died at the age of 77 in 1984, due to health problems associated with a lung cancer and respiratory conditions.
What is real and what is not in the series
The season incorporates dramatic liberties. One of the most talked-about is the sequence in which Gein "helps" investigators find Ted Bundy. That scene is pure fictionThere are no records of Gein being interviewed by figures such as Robert Ressler or John Douglas in that context, and he did not assist in Bundy's capture.
It's also suggested onscreen that Ed killed his brother Henry. In reality, the official version indicated an accident during a fire in 1944; despite subsequent suspicions, there was never a formal investigation or autopsy to contradict this. The production explores this possibility as a narrative tool, but there is no historical resolution thereon.
Cast and crew: a high-voltage cast
In addition to Hunnam and Metcalf, the cast includes Suzanna Son, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, and Lesley Manville, among others. Hollander plays Alfred Hitchcock in one of the metacinematic plots, while Will Brill plays Tobe Hooper. The season allows for historical and cultural notes that connect with Christine Jorgensen and Ilse Koch, weaving a uncomfortable cartography of referents around the case.
The seal of Murphy and Brennan is perceived in the visual pulse and the thematic ambition: the work plays with the codes of terror and true crime, but also with the reflection on the spectacle of crime and its ethical derivatives.
Netflix audiences and launch strategy
The debut was strong: 12,2 million views and 90,6 million hours watched in its first three days, leading the week. Compared to the previous installment of the anthology, which focused on Lyle and Erik Menéndez (12,3 million/97,5 million in its weekly debut), Ed Gein's daily viewing aims for a greater initial pull, also conditioned by the opening day.
Netflix has replicated Dahmer's strategy: contained promotion and absence of press screeners before the release, and launched the trailerThe result has been a curiosity effect among fans of the genre, with the title sneaking into the top spots and fueling a public conversation that transcends the rankings.
From Plainfield to Hollywood: The Cultural Imprint
The Gein case served as direct or indirect inspiration for some of the most important villains in horror films: Norman Bates in Psycho, Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. The series traces these bridges and shows how that police case reconfigured the imaginary of everyday horror.
Beyond the classics, the story has been revisited by films and documentaries over the decades, confirming that the figure of Gein functions as a dark mirror where pop culture examines its limits between what is real and what is represented, and how crime is metabolizes into story.
The controversy: understanding or glamorization?
Critical reception has ranged from acknowledgment of the acting and technical work to accusations of wallowing in the macabre. Hunnam has insisted in interviews on avoiding sensationalism and seeking "the truth" about the character; nevertheless, the debate persists: Does humanizing explain or whitewash?
The season introduces this question in its own text (even breaking the fourth wall), but some critics consider that the visual execution, due to its formal beauty, runs the risk of neutralizing the gravity of the events. The discussion is not new in true crime, but here regains strength due to the size of the phenomenon on Netflix.
Keys to the ending and hints
The final section emphasizes Gein's impact on other criminals and popular culture, with images evoking thefts of his tombstone (something that actually happened) and the iconography of Leatherface. The aforementioned fictional assistance to the police underlines the play of perceptions: it works as a dramatic device, but not as a verifiable historical data.
Among the winks, echoes of Mindhunter emerge with characters inspired by Ressler and Douglas, and presences that connect the case with the cinema that reinterpreted it, reinforcing the central idea of the season: the circle between crime, representation and audience feeds itself in a way as fascinating as it is disturbing.
where to see it
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available on Netflix. If you're interested in the ethical angles of true crime and its translation on screen, this installment articulates a journey that combines reconstruction, reflection, and controversy with a cast in a state of grace and a high-level performance.
With a real case that marked the United States, a precise staging and a remarkable audience start, the series by Murphy and Brennan once again puts uncomfortable questions on the table: what is faithful to the facts, what is creative license and how do we position ourselves as spectators before a story that, between horror and art, forces us to look straight ahead.