Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story - 2026 Film News

Netflix just dropped the first trailer for Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, and it’s already giving serious chills. The streaming giant is leaning hard into the grim, atmospheric retelling of one of America’s most enduring true-crime mysteries, with a cast that’s frankly stacked. Ella Beatty steps into the blood-soaked shoes of Lizzie Borden herself, and based on the footage, she’s bringing a quiet, coiled intensity that feels perfect for the role.

The trailer wastes no time setting the tone: fog-drenched streets, shadowy Victorian interiors, and the unmistakable weight of impending violence. We get quick flashes of Charlie Hunnam as Andrew Borden, the wealthy, tight-fisted patriarch whose brutal death would spark a media frenzy that still fascinates us more than 130 years later. Rebecca Hall appears as Abby Borden, the stepmother who shared the grim fate, and even in a few seconds of screen time, she manages to convey the tension simmering beneath the family’s respectable surface.

A Familiar Story With a Fresh Lens

Of course, everyone knows the rhyme: "Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks." But this series isn’t just rehashing the nursery rhyme. The trailer hints at a deeper exploration of Lizzie’s psychology, her relationships, and the suffocating social constraints of 1890s Fall River, Massachusetts. It’s less about the bloody act itself and more about what drove a supposedly proper, churchgoing woman to be accused of such a savage crime - if she even did it, that is.

Beatty, who’s been making waves in indie circles, looks utterly transformed here. She’s not playing Lizzie as a wild-eyed maniac; instead, she’s got this unsettling stillness that makes you lean in. You can almost see the gears turning behind her eyes, and that ambiguity is exactly what makes the Borden case so endlessly watchable. Did she snap? Was it a stranger? The show seems determined to keep that question alive, even as it leans into the horror of the act itself.

The supporting cast is just as intriguing. Vicky Krieps takes on the role of Bridget Sullivan, the Bordens’ Irish maid who was in the house during the murders and later testified at the inquest. Krieps has that knack for playing characters with hidden depths, and Bridget’s perspective could be the show’s secret weapon. Meanwhile, Billie Lourd steps in as Emma Borden, Lizzie’s older sister, who stood by her through the trial but later distanced herself. And Jessica Barden rounds things out as Nance O’Neil, a real-life actress who had a notoriously close relationship with Lizzie after the acquittal - a subplot that promises some much-needed spark in an otherwise grim narrative.

How This New Take Differs From What We’ve Seen

This isn’t the first time Hollywood has taken a crack at the Borden story. There was the 2014 film Lizzie with Chloë Sevigny, and of course, the campier The Lizzie Borden Chronicles with Christina Ricci. But this Netflix series feels like it’s aiming for a more prestige-drama approach, somewhere between a psychological character study and a slow-burn crime thriller. The trailer’s production design is lush yet oppressive, all heavy drapes and dim gaslight, which immediately sets it apart from the more sensationalized takes.

There’s also a notable emphasis on the class and gender dynamics at play. Andrew Borden was famously wealthy but notoriously cheap, and the town resented him. The trailer subtly nods to that friction, with Hunnam delivering a few clipped, cold lines that make you understand why someone might want to take an axe to him. Rebecca Hall’s Abby seems caught in the middle, and the dynamic between her and Lizzie is fraught with more tension than the historical record can fully explain. That’s where the writers seem to be having the most fun, filling in the gaps with plausible, if not provable, emotional truths.

A Release Date to Circle on Your Calendar

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is set to premiere on September 17, 2026, which is right in that sweet spot for fall viewing - spooky enough to kick off the Halloween season but early enough to be a proper awards-season contender. Netflix clearly believes in this one, and with a cast this strong, it’s easy to see why. The show is described as a drama and crime story, though the trailer leans heavily into the latter, with quick cuts of bloody floors and flickering candles doing most of the heavy lifting.

We don’t have a runtime yet, and the director hasn’t been officially announced, which is a little odd for a project this far along. But honestly, the talent in front of the camera is more than enough to build anticipation. If the full series can sustain the tension that this trailer packs into under two minutes, we could be looking at one of the most talked-about shows of the year.

The Borden case has always been a perfect storm: wealth, violence, scandal, and a protagonist who remains an enigma no matter how many books, films, and podcasts take a swing at her. This new series seems to understand that the mystery isn’t just about who swung the axe - it’s about why, and how a woman in 1892 could walk free while the world still whispered her name forever after. Mark your calendars now; this one’s going to be a bloody good time.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter