Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Updated: 12/20/2025, 12:50:54 PM Wikipedia source
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the third season of the American biographical crime drama anthology television series Monster, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix. The season focuses on convicted murderer, graverobber, and suspected serial killer Ed Gein, portrayed by Charlie Hunnam. The cast also includes Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Laurie Metcalf, and Tom Hollander. The season incorporates meta commentary on the cultural obsession with true crime, exploring Gein's influence on Hollywood and pop culture. It is the third installment in the Monster anthology series, following Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024). A season based on Ed Gein was announced to be in development on September 14, 2024. It is the first season not helmed by Murphy, with Brennan serving as the sole creator and writer. Upon its premiere on October 3, 2025, the season received negative reviews and was deemed inferior to its predecessors, with critics panning its meta commentary, subplots, runtime, excessive graphic violence, and factual inaccuracies. While critical responses to Hunnam's performance were divided, he ultimately received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. A fourth season, based on parricide suspect Lizzie Borden, is currently in production.
Infobox
Showrunner
Ian Brennan
Starring
mw- Charlie Hunnam Suzanna Son Vicky Krieps Laurie Metcalf Tom Hollander
No. of episodes
8
Original network
Netflix
Original release
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Tables
· Episodes
20
20
No.overall
20
No. inseason
1
Title
"Mother!"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
In 1944, Ed Gein lives on an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, with his heavily religious mother Augusta, who condemns unmarried women as Jezebels. Despite that, Ed has a girlfriend in town, Adeline Watkins. She shows him photos of Holocaust victims and Ilse Koch, "the Bitch of Buchenwald", with whom Ed becomes obsessed. When his brother announces that he plans to leave with a woman, Ed strikes him down with a log, not realizing at first that his brother is dead, and later lays a fire to cover it up. In grief, his mother suffers a stroke. When they visit a neighbor and she witnesses an unmarried woman chastising the man for beating a dog, Augusta suffers a second stroke, and dies soon afterward. Back home after the funeral, Ed still hears her voice in his head. She orders him to bring her back, which he does by digging up another woman's corpse and bringing it into the house.
In 1944, Ed Gein lives on an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, with his heavily religious mother Augusta, who condemns unmarried women as Jezebels. Despite that, Ed has a girlfriend in town, Adeline Watkins. She shows him photos of Holocaust victims and Ilse Koch, "the Bitch of Buchenwald", with whom Ed becomes obsessed. When his brother announces that he plans to leave with a woman, Ed strikes him down with a log, not realizing at first that his brother is dead, and later lays a fire to cover it up. In grief, his mother suffers a stroke. When they visit a neighbor and she witnesses an unmarried woman chastising the man for beating a dog, Augusta suffers a second stroke, and dies soon afterward. Back home after the funeral, Ed still hears her voice in his head. She orders him to bring her back, which he does by digging up another woman's corpse and bringing it into the house.
No.overall
In 1944, Ed Gein lives on an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, with his heavily religious mother Augusta, who condemns unmarried women as Jezebels. Despite that, Ed has a girlfriend in town, Adeline Watkins. She shows him photos of Holocaust victims and Ilse Koch, "the Bitch of Buchenwald", with whom Ed becomes obsessed. When his brother announces that he plans to leave with a woman, Ed strikes him down with a log, not realizing at first that his brother is dead, and later lays a fire to cover it up. In grief, his mother suffers a stroke. When they visit a neighbor and she witnesses an unmarried woman chastising the man for beating a dog, Augusta suffers a second stroke, and dies soon afterward. Back home after the funeral, Ed still hears her voice in his head. She orders him to bring her back, which he does by digging up another woman's corpse and bringing it into the house.
21
21
No.overall
21
No. inseason
2
Title
"Sick as Your Secrets"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Inspired by Koch who has turned the skin of concentration camp inmates into objects, Ed attempts the same. After a date with Adeline, he takes her home to show her a bowl made of a skull, where she also sees a chair upholstered with skin around a nipple. He introduces her to his "mother", the corpse sitting in a chair turned with the back to them. As she does not answer, Adeline becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Angry at his mother, Ed leaves, taking his rifle with him, to go drinking at a tavern. At first, he compares the owner Mary Hogan to his mother, but after she says she can arrange sexual meetings for him, he shoots her and drags her body away. Later, an employee after discovering the scene tells the Sheriff that, when he had left the tavern, he had seen a truck that might have been Ed's.
In 1959, film director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville meet Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho, who explains that Ed was schizophrenic. Closeted gay actor Anthony Perkins is in a secret relationship with Tab Hunter, when he receives the main role of Norman Bates for the film Psycho. On set, Hitchock leads him to a replica of Ed's house. He implies that he has cast Perkins because he like Ed has a secret that turns into sickness. Perkins meets his psychologist Mildred Newman who suggests conversion therapy, as he expresses disgust at his own desires. At the film's premiere, Hitchcock and his wife sit in the audience to see the reaction. The scene where Norman Bates kills his victim in a shower causes people to get traumatized, scream, and vomit to Hitchcock's delight.
Inspired by Koch who has turned the skin of concentration camp inmates into objects, Ed attempts the same. After a date with Adeline, he takes her home to show her a bowl made of a skull, where she also sees a chair upholstered with skin around a nipple. He introduces her to his "mother", the corpse sitting in a chair turned with the back to them. As she does not answer, Adeline becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Angry at his mother, Ed leaves, taking his rifle with him, to go drinking at a tavern. At first, he compares the owner Mary Hogan to his mother, but after she says she can arrange sexual meetings for him, he shoots her and drags her body away. Later, an employee after discovering the scene tells the Sheriff that, when he had left the tavern, he had seen a truck that might have been Ed's.
In 1959, film director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville meet Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho, who explains that Ed was schizophrenic. Closeted gay actor Anthony Perkins is in a secret relationship with Tab Hunter, when he receives the main role of Norman Bates for the film Psycho. On set, Hitchock leads him to a replica of Ed's house. He implies that he has cast Perkins because he like Ed has a secret that turns into sickness. Perkins meets his psychologist Mildred Newman who suggests conversion therapy, as he expresses disgust at his own desires. At the film's premiere, Hitchcock and his wife sit in the audience to see the reaction. The scene where Norman Bates kills his victim in a shower causes people to get traumatized, scream, and vomit to Hitchcock's delight.
No.overall
Inspired by Koch who has turned the skin of concentration camp inmates into objects, Ed attempts the same. After a date with Adeline, he takes her home to show her a bowl made of a skull, where she also sees a chair upholstered with skin around a nipple. He introduces her to his "mother", the corpse sitting in a chair turned with the back to them. As she does not answer, Adeline becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Angry at his mother, Ed leaves, taking his rifle with him, to go drinking at a tavern. At first, he compares the owner Mary Hogan to his mother, but after she says she can arrange sexual meetings for him, he shoots her and drags her body away. Later, an employee after discovering the scene tells the Sheriff that, when he had left the tavern, he had seen a truck that might have been Ed's.
In 1959, film director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville meet Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho, who explains that Ed was schizophrenic. Closeted gay actor Anthony Perkins is in a secret relationship with Tab Hunter, when he receives the main role of Norman Bates for the film Psycho. On set, Hitchock leads him to a replica of Ed's house. He implies that he has cast Perkins because he like Ed has a secret that turns into sickness. Perkins meets his psychologist Mildred Newman who suggests conversion therapy, as he expresses disgust at his own desires. At the film's premiere, Hitchcock and his wife sit in the audience to see the reaction. The scene where Norman Bates kills his victim in a shower causes people to get traumatized, scream, and vomit to Hitchcock's delight.
22
22
No.overall
22
No. inseason
3
Title
"The Babysitter"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Ed gets questioned by the Sheriff about when he last has seen Mary. After Adeline shows him photos of Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who has undergone gender-affirming surgery, Ed snatches a ring from a corpse and taking Adeline to the graveyard at night proposes, which she accepts. When she initiates sex, he stops because according to his mother he only should have sex to procreate, and he is not sure about becoming a father.
To have him be around children, Adeline introduces him to a family whose babysitter Evelyn Hartley is in a hospital with polio. Alone with the two children, he disturbs them at his farm, showing them the skull bowls and a finger bone and a mask made of a face. After he is fired by the enraged parents, he follows and kidnaps Evelyn. To Adeline, he lies that the babysitting has worked, and she moves in with him. While Evelyn is in his basement tied to a chair, he tries to make "mother"'s corpse beat her with a hammer.
In 1964, Perkins ends a relationship with a man because he has started meeting a woman. He only receives role offers similar to Bates and even of Bates again in a sequel. Hitchcock too looks for a new story but the studio only wants films of the new sadistic, exploitative "sex horror" genre. He concludes that he has changed the audience's taste. In 1974, a scene from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre depicts the protagonist captured by the villains the same way as Evelyn.
Ed gets questioned by the Sheriff about when he last has seen Mary. After Adeline shows him photos of Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who has undergone gender-affirming surgery, Ed snatches a ring from a corpse and taking Adeline to the graveyard at night proposes, which she accepts. When she initiates sex, he stops because according to his mother he only should have sex to procreate, and he is not sure about becoming a father.
To have him be around children, Adeline introduces him to a family whose babysitter Evelyn Hartley is in a hospital with polio. Alone with the two children, he disturbs them at his farm, showing them the skull bowls and a finger bone and a mask made of a face. After he is fired by the enraged parents, he follows and kidnaps Evelyn. To Adeline, he lies that the babysitting has worked, and she moves in with him. While Evelyn is in his basement tied to a chair, he tries to make "mother"'s corpse beat her with a hammer.
In 1964, Perkins ends a relationship with a man because he has started meeting a woman. He only receives role offers similar to Bates and even of Bates again in a sequel. Hitchcock too looks for a new story but the studio only wants films of the new sadistic, exploitative "sex horror" genre. He concludes that he has changed the audience's taste. In 1974, a scene from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre depicts the protagonist captured by the villains the same way as Evelyn.
No.overall
Ed gets questioned by the Sheriff about when he last has seen Mary. After Adeline shows him photos of Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who has undergone gender-affirming surgery, Ed snatches a ring from a corpse and taking Adeline to the graveyard at night proposes, which she accepts. When she initiates sex, he stops because according to his mother he only should have sex to procreate, and he is not sure about becoming a father.
To have him be around children, Adeline introduces him to a family whose babysitter Evelyn Hartley is in a hospital with polio. Alone with the two children, he disturbs them at his farm, showing them the skull bowls and a finger bone and a mask made of a face. After he is fired by the enraged parents, he follows and kidnaps Evelyn. To Adeline, he lies that the babysitting has worked, and she moves in with him. While Evelyn is in his basement tied to a chair, he tries to make "mother"'s corpse beat her with a hammer.
In 1964, Perkins ends a relationship with a man because he has started meeting a woman. He only receives role offers similar to Bates and even of Bates again in a sequel. Hitchcock too looks for a new story but the studio only wants films of the new sadistic, exploitative "sex horror" genre. He concludes that he has changed the audience's taste. In 1974, a scene from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre depicts the protagonist captured by the villains the same way as Evelyn.
23
23
No.overall
23
No. inseason
4
Title
"Green"
Directed by
Ian Brennan
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
While Ed prepares Evelyn's body, Adeline discovers the corpse in the chair and runs back to her own home. There, she confronts him about the corpse and that he takes her underwear to wear it. He explains the corpse; she finds it macabre but is fascinated. At a hardware store, Ed sees the owner Bernice Worden crying and takes her out to a date. At her home, she lets him wear her underwear and have sex with her, after which she orders him to move in.
Back at his home he hallucinates, telling his mother that he moves out and Augusta calling Bernice the "town whore", who has sexual diseases. The next day which is the beginning of hunting season, he fights with Bernice in the store about this and shoots her with a store rifle. When two hunters come to his shed, he chases and kills them with a chainsaw. Later, he shows Adeline in his shed that he has hung up and cut open Bernice's body to make a body suit of her skin.
In 1973, inspired by Ed using a chainsaw, Tobe Hooper develops his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. On set, he explains the character Leatherface to the cast. He says that Ed wore women, but was not gay because he also had sex with women.
While Ed prepares Evelyn's body, Adeline discovers the corpse in the chair and runs back to her own home. There, she confronts him about the corpse and that he takes her underwear to wear it. He explains the corpse; she finds it macabre but is fascinated. At a hardware store, Ed sees the owner Bernice Worden crying and takes her out to a date. At her home, she lets him wear her underwear and have sex with her, after which she orders him to move in.
Back at his home he hallucinates, telling his mother that he moves out and Augusta calling Bernice the "town whore", who has sexual diseases. The next day which is the beginning of hunting season, he fights with Bernice in the store about this and shoots her with a store rifle. When two hunters come to his shed, he chases and kills them with a chainsaw. Later, he shows Adeline in his shed that he has hung up and cut open Bernice's body to make a body suit of her skin.
In 1973, inspired by Ed using a chainsaw, Tobe Hooper develops his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. On set, he explains the character Leatherface to the cast. He says that Ed wore women, but was not gay because he also had sex with women.
No.overall
While Ed prepares Evelyn's body, Adeline discovers the corpse in the chair and runs back to her own home. There, she confronts him about the corpse and that he takes her underwear to wear it. He explains the corpse; she finds it macabre but is fascinated. At a hardware store, Ed sees the owner Bernice Worden crying and takes her out to a date. At her home, she lets him wear her underwear and have sex with her, after which she orders him to move in.
Back at his home he hallucinates, telling his mother that he moves out and Augusta calling Bernice the "town whore", who has sexual diseases. The next day which is the beginning of hunting season, he fights with Bernice in the store about this and shoots her with a store rifle. When two hunters come to his shed, he chases and kills them with a chainsaw. Later, he shows Adeline in his shed that he has hung up and cut open Bernice's body to make a body suit of her skin.
In 1973, inspired by Ed using a chainsaw, Tobe Hooper develops his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. On set, he explains the character Leatherface to the cast. He says that Ed wore women, but was not gay because he also had sex with women.
24
24
No.overall
24
No. inseason
5
Title
"Ice"
Directed by
Ian Brennan
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Adeline begins an affair with a local farmhand, while refusing sex to Ed who wants to start a family. She plans to leave Wisconsin for New York City to pursue a photography career. Pressured by her mother to marry, she attends homemaking classes, hosted by Mrs. Eleanor Adams. Adeline mocks the women's conformity and later appears at Mrs. Adams's funeral dressed in red, laughing. Before leaving town, she photographs Ed's mutilated corpses and encourages him to satisfy his urges on the newly buried Mrs. Adams. In New York, her work is ridiculed by famous photographer Weegee, who does not believe that her photos show human corpses, and she assaults her landlady before fleeing home. Meanwhile, Ed becomes aroused watching a film about Jorgensen and digs up Adams's body. He successfully has sex with the corpse, when he fantasizes her to be Ilse Koch. When Adeline returns, her mother cruelly confesses she once tried to abort her. Ed refuses her advances, telling her she is "too warm", so that she submerges herself in a bathtub filled with ice.
Adeline begins an affair with a local farmhand, while refusing sex to Ed who wants to start a family. She plans to leave Wisconsin for New York City to pursue a photography career. Pressured by her mother to marry, she attends homemaking classes, hosted by Mrs. Eleanor Adams. Adeline mocks the women's conformity and later appears at Mrs. Adams's funeral dressed in red, laughing. Before leaving town, she photographs Ed's mutilated corpses and encourages him to satisfy his urges on the newly buried Mrs. Adams. In New York, her work is ridiculed by famous photographer Weegee, who does not believe that her photos show human corpses, and she assaults her landlady before fleeing home. Meanwhile, Ed becomes aroused watching a film about Jorgensen and digs up Adams's body. He successfully has sex with the corpse, when he fantasizes her to be Ilse Koch. When Adeline returns, her mother cruelly confesses she once tried to abort her. Ed refuses her advances, telling her she is "too warm", so that she submerges herself in a bathtub filled with ice.
No.overall
Adeline begins an affair with a local farmhand, while refusing sex to Ed who wants to start a family. She plans to leave Wisconsin for New York City to pursue a photography career. Pressured by her mother to marry, she attends homemaking classes, hosted by Mrs. Eleanor Adams. Adeline mocks the women's conformity and later appears at Mrs. Adams's funeral dressed in red, laughing. Before leaving town, she photographs Ed's mutilated corpses and encourages him to satisfy his urges on the newly buried Mrs. Adams. In New York, her work is ridiculed by famous photographer Weegee, who does not believe that her photos show human corpses, and she assaults her landlady before fleeing home. Meanwhile, Ed becomes aroused watching a film about Jorgensen and digs up Adams's body. He successfully has sex with the corpse, when he fantasizes her to be Ilse Koch. When Adeline returns, her mother cruelly confesses she once tried to abort her. Ed refuses her advances, telling her she is "too warm", so that she submerges herself in a bathtub filled with ice.
25
25
No.overall
25
No. inseason
6
Title
"Buxom Bird"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
Sheriff Arthur Schley and his deputy Frank Worden, Bernice's son, who previously had asked his mother to host a Thanksgiving dinner, arrive at her hardware store, discovering bloodstains and a gift box addressed to Ed. At Ed's farmhouse they find the building in disarray, littered with human remains, and a human heart boiling on the stove. Frank searches the barn and finds his mother's mutilated corpse hanging upside down. He attacks Ed when he returns, before Ed is arrested and interrogated. Questioned by the Sheriff, Ed claims difficulties to remember things correctly, denies having killed anyone and calls digging up bodies his unusual hobby. At his own suggestion, he takes a polygraph test which brings no new insight. Meanwhile, Adeline is beleaguered by the press, presenting herself as a casual acquaintance while exploiting the notoriety of the case. At Bernice's funeral, she pretends to be a reporter trying to interview Frank and is forced away by Arthur and she scoffs off. Arthur then invites Frank over, and Frank spends Thanksgiving at Arthur's but breaks down over dinner while Arthur cuts the turkey, seeing a vision of Ed cutting his mother and imagining the turkey as his mother.
Sheriff Arthur Schley and his deputy Frank Worden, Bernice's son, who previously had asked his mother to host a Thanksgiving dinner, arrive at her hardware store, discovering bloodstains and a gift box addressed to Ed. At Ed's farmhouse they find the building in disarray, littered with human remains, and a human heart boiling on the stove. Frank searches the barn and finds his mother's mutilated corpse hanging upside down. He attacks Ed when he returns, before Ed is arrested and interrogated. Questioned by the Sheriff, Ed claims difficulties to remember things correctly, denies having killed anyone and calls digging up bodies his unusual hobby. At his own suggestion, he takes a polygraph test which brings no new insight. Meanwhile, Adeline is beleaguered by the press, presenting herself as a casual acquaintance while exploiting the notoriety of the case. At Bernice's funeral, she pretends to be a reporter trying to interview Frank and is forced away by Arthur and she scoffs off. Arthur then invites Frank over, and Frank spends Thanksgiving at Arthur's but breaks down over dinner while Arthur cuts the turkey, seeing a vision of Ed cutting his mother and imagining the turkey as his mother.
No.overall
Sheriff Arthur Schley and his deputy Frank Worden, Bernice's son, who previously had asked his mother to host a Thanksgiving dinner, arrive at her hardware store, discovering bloodstains and a gift box addressed to Ed. At Ed's farmhouse they find the building in disarray, littered with human remains, and a human heart boiling on the stove. Frank searches the barn and finds his mother's mutilated corpse hanging upside down. He attacks Ed when he returns, before Ed is arrested and interrogated. Questioned by the Sheriff, Ed claims difficulties to remember things correctly, denies having killed anyone and calls digging up bodies his unusual hobby. At his own suggestion, he takes a polygraph test which brings no new insight. Meanwhile, Adeline is beleaguered by the press, presenting herself as a casual acquaintance while exploiting the notoriety of the case. At Bernice's funeral, she pretends to be a reporter trying to interview Frank and is forced away by Arthur and she scoffs off. Arthur then invites Frank over, and Frank spends Thanksgiving at Arthur's but breaks down over dinner while Arthur cuts the turkey, seeing a vision of Ed cutting his mother and imagining the turkey as his mother.
26
26
No.overall
26
No. inseason
7
Title
"Ham Radio"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
In 1958, Frank Worden drinks to cope with Bernice's death and turns the Gein estate into an attraction, planning to auction the property as the only way to obtain compensation money. Days before the sale, Ed's house burns down, leaving only his car, which Adeline sells at auction. Now institutionalized, Ed receives $300 in proceeds and asks Nurse Salty to buy him three ham radios and women's lingerie. He converses over the radio with Ilse Koch, who encourages him to ignore those calling him a monster and denies having done anything beyond following orders. But haunted by visions of a golem, she hangs herself in prison. Speaking with Christine Jorgensen, Ed confesses feelings of confusion about his identity and his creation of a "woman suit", reminiscent to Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Christine rebukes him, explaining his desires are rooted in an extremely eroticized misogyny. Nurse Roz bans Ed from crossdressing, prompting violent hallucinations at night in which he kills her. When she appears alive the next morning, Ed breaks down. His doctor informs him that the radios never worked and that he has been speaking to himself, diagnosing him with schizophrenia. Under Roz's supervision, Ed begins taking medication.
In 1958, Frank Worden drinks to cope with Bernice's death and turns the Gein estate into an attraction, planning to auction the property as the only way to obtain compensation money. Days before the sale, Ed's house burns down, leaving only his car, which Adeline sells at auction. Now institutionalized, Ed receives $300 in proceeds and asks Nurse Salty to buy him three ham radios and women's lingerie. He converses over the radio with Ilse Koch, who encourages him to ignore those calling him a monster and denies having done anything beyond following orders. But haunted by visions of a golem, she hangs herself in prison. Speaking with Christine Jorgensen, Ed confesses feelings of confusion about his identity and his creation of a "woman suit", reminiscent to Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Christine rebukes him, explaining his desires are rooted in an extremely eroticized misogyny. Nurse Roz bans Ed from crossdressing, prompting violent hallucinations at night in which he kills her. When she appears alive the next morning, Ed breaks down. His doctor informs him that the radios never worked and that he has been speaking to himself, diagnosing him with schizophrenia. Under Roz's supervision, Ed begins taking medication.
No.overall
In 1958, Frank Worden drinks to cope with Bernice's death and turns the Gein estate into an attraction, planning to auction the property as the only way to obtain compensation money. Days before the sale, Ed's house burns down, leaving only his car, which Adeline sells at auction. Now institutionalized, Ed receives $300 in proceeds and asks Nurse Salty to buy him three ham radios and women's lingerie. He converses over the radio with Ilse Koch, who encourages him to ignore those calling him a monster and denies having done anything beyond following orders. But haunted by visions of a golem, she hangs herself in prison. Speaking with Christine Jorgensen, Ed confesses feelings of confusion about his identity and his creation of a "woman suit", reminiscent to Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Christine rebukes him, explaining his desires are rooted in an extremely eroticized misogyny. Nurse Roz bans Ed from crossdressing, prompting violent hallucinations at night in which he kills her. When she appears alive the next morning, Ed breaks down. His doctor informs him that the radios never worked and that he has been speaking to himself, diagnosing him with schizophrenia. Under Roz's supervision, Ed begins taking medication.
27
27
No.overall
27
No. inseason
8
Title
"The Godfather"
Directed by
Max Winkler
Written by
Ian Brennan
Original release date
October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03)
In the 1970s, Ted Bundy abducts, sexually assaults and kills his victims, cutting off their heads. FBI special agents Robert Ressler and John E. Douglas interview serial killers like Jerry Brudos for offender profiling and Ed, after many have expressed admiration for him. He theorizes that Bundy seeks his mother in his victims and advises them on the kind of hacksaw Bundy might use. Imprisoned murderer Richard Speck forwards to Ed a letter which Bundy has written to Speck. Ed in turn gives it to the police, ultimately leading to Bundy's capture. After the arrest, Ed imagines meeting all serial killers who were inspired by him or idolize him.
In the 1980s, Ed is diagnosed with lung cancer and told he has only months to live. Roz, who has become a friend to him, encourages him to write his own story, saying that many people have distorted his story, but he refuses. Adeline visits Ed one final time, confessing her own instability and intent to harm others; Ed urges her to abandon revenge. He later dies peacefully, imagining a reunion with his mother Augusta, who tells him he has "made a name for himself".
In 2000, a group of young people vandalizes and steals Ed's gravestone. One of the youths imagines the film characters inspired by Ed: Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.
In the 1970s, Ted Bundy abducts, sexually assaults and kills his victims, cutting off their heads. FBI special agents Robert Ressler and John E. Douglas interview serial killers like Jerry Brudos for offender profiling and Ed, after many have expressed admiration for him. He theorizes that Bundy seeks his mother in his victims and advises them on the kind of hacksaw Bundy might use. Imprisoned murderer Richard Speck forwards to Ed a letter which Bundy has written to Speck. Ed in turn gives it to the police, ultimately leading to Bundy's capture. After the arrest, Ed imagines meeting all serial killers who were inspired by him or idolize him.
In the 1980s, Ed is diagnosed with lung cancer and told he has only months to live. Roz, who has become a friend to him, encourages him to write his own story, saying that many people have distorted his story, but he refuses. Adeline visits Ed one final time, confessing her own instability and intent to harm others; Ed urges her to abandon revenge. He later dies peacefully, imagining a reunion with his mother Augusta, who tells him he has "made a name for himself".
In 2000, a group of young people vandalizes and steals Ed's gravestone. One of the youths imagines the film characters inspired by Ed: Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.
No.overall
In the 1970s, Ted Bundy abducts, sexually assaults and kills his victims, cutting off their heads. FBI special agents Robert Ressler and John E. Douglas interview serial killers like Jerry Brudos for offender profiling and Ed, after many have expressed admiration for him. He theorizes that Bundy seeks his mother in his victims and advises them on the kind of hacksaw Bundy might use. Imprisoned murderer Richard Speck forwards to Ed a letter which Bundy has written to Speck. Ed in turn gives it to the police, ultimately leading to Bundy's capture. After the arrest, Ed imagines meeting all serial killers who were inspired by him or idolize him.
In the 1980s, Ed is diagnosed with lung cancer and told he has only months to live. Roz, who has become a friend to him, encourages him to write his own story, saying that many people have distorted his story, but he refuses. Adeline visits Ed one final time, confessing her own instability and intent to harm others; Ed urges her to abandon revenge. He later dies peacefully, imagining a reunion with his mother Augusta, who tells him he has "made a name for himself".
In 2000, a group of young people vandalizes and steals Ed's gravestone. One of the youths imagines the film characters inspired by Ed: Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.
| No.overall | No. inseason | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
| 20 | 1 | "Mother!" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| In 1944, Ed Gein lives on an isolated farm in Plainfield, Wisconsin, with his heavily religious mother Augusta, who condemns unmarried women as Jezebels. Despite that, Ed has a girlfriend in town, Adeline Watkins. She shows him photos of Holocaust victims and Ilse Koch, "the Bitch of Buchenwald", with whom Ed becomes obsessed. When his brother announces that he plans to leave with a woman, Ed strikes him down with a log, not realizing at first that his brother is dead, and later lays a fire to cover it up. In grief, his mother suffers a stroke. When they visit a neighbor and she witnesses an unmarried woman chastising the man for beating a dog, Augusta suffers a second stroke, and dies soon afterward. Back home after the funeral, Ed still hears her voice in his head. She orders him to bring her back, which he does by digging up another woman's corpse and bringing it into the house. | ||||||
| 21 | 2 | "Sick as Your Secrets" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| Inspired by Koch who has turned the skin of concentration camp inmates into objects, Ed attempts the same. After a date with Adeline, he takes her home to show her a bowl made of a skull, where she also sees a chair upholstered with skin around a nipple. He introduces her to his "mother", the corpse sitting in a chair turned with the back to them. As she does not answer, Adeline becomes uncomfortable and leaves. Angry at his mother, Ed leaves, taking his rifle with him, to go drinking at a tavern. At first, he compares the owner Mary Hogan to his mother, but after she says she can arrange sexual meetings for him, he shoots her and drags her body away. Later, an employee after discovering the scene tells the Sheriff that, when he had left the tavern, he had seen a truck that might have been Ed's. In 1959, film director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville meet Robert Bloch, author of the novel Psycho, who explains that Ed was schizophrenic. Closeted gay actor Anthony Perkins is in a secret relationship with Tab Hunter, when he receives the main role of Norman Bates for the film Psycho. On set, Hitchock leads him to a replica of Ed's house. He implies that he has cast Perkins because he like Ed has a secret that turns into sickness. Perkins meets his psychologist Mildred Newman who suggests conversion therapy, as he expresses disgust at his own desires. At the film's premiere, Hitchcock and his wife sit in the audience to see the reaction. The scene where Norman Bates kills his victim in a shower causes people to get traumatized, scream, and vomit to Hitchcock's delight. | ||||||
| 22 | 3 | "The Babysitter" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| Ed gets questioned by the Sheriff about when he last has seen Mary. After Adeline shows him photos of Christine Jorgensen, a trans woman who has undergone gender-affirming surgery, Ed snatches a ring from a corpse and taking Adeline to the graveyard at night proposes, which she accepts. When she initiates sex, he stops because according to his mother he only should have sex to procreate, and he is not sure about becoming a father. To have him be around children, Adeline introduces him to a family whose babysitter Evelyn Hartley is in a hospital with polio. Alone with the two children, he disturbs them at his farm, showing them the skull bowls and a finger bone and a mask made of a face. After he is fired by the enraged parents, he follows and kidnaps Evelyn. To Adeline, he lies that the babysitting has worked, and she moves in with him. While Evelyn is in his basement tied to a chair, he tries to make "mother s corpse beat her with a hammer. In 1964, Perkins ends a relationship with a man because he has started meeting a woman. He only receives role offers similar to Bates and even of Bates again in a sequel. Hitchcock too looks for a new story but the studio only wants films of the new sadistic, exploitative "sex horror" genre. He concludes that he has changed the audience's taste. In 1974, a scene from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre depicts the protagonist captured by the villains the same way as Evelyn. | ||||||
| 23 | 4 | "Green" | Ian Brennan | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| While Ed prepares Evelyn's body, Adeline discovers the corpse in the chair and runs back to her own home. There, she confronts him about the corpse and that he takes her underwear to wear it. He explains the corpse; she finds it macabre but is fascinated. At a hardware store, Ed sees the owner Bernice Worden crying and takes her out to a date. At her home, she lets him wear her underwear and have sex with her, after which she orders him to move in. Back at his home he hallucinates, telling his mother that he moves out and Augusta calling Bernice the "town whore", who has sexual diseases. The next day which is the beginning of hunting season, he fights with Bernice in the store about this and shoots her with a store rifle. When two hunters come to his shed, he chases and kills them with a chainsaw. Later, he shows Adeline in his shed that he has hung up and cut open Bernice's body to make a body suit of her skin. In 1973, inspired by Ed using a chainsaw, Tobe Hooper develops his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. On set, he explains the character Leatherface to the cast. He says that Ed wore women, but was not gay because he also had sex with women. | ||||||
| 24 | 5 | "Ice" | Ian Brennan | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| Adeline begins an affair with a local farmhand, while refusing sex to Ed who wants to start a family. She plans to leave Wisconsin for New York City to pursue a photography career. Pressured by her mother to marry, she attends homemaking classes, hosted by Mrs. Eleanor Adams. Adeline mocks the women's conformity and later appears at Mrs. Adams's funeral dressed in red, laughing. Before leaving town, she photographs Ed's mutilated corpses and encourages him to satisfy his urges on the newly buried Mrs. Adams. In New York, her work is ridiculed by famous photographer Weegee, who does not believe that her photos show human corpses, and she assaults her landlady before fleeing home. Meanwhile, Ed becomes aroused watching a film about Jorgensen and digs up Adams's body. He successfully has sex with the corpse, when he fantasizes her to be Ilse Koch. When Adeline returns, her mother cruelly confesses she once tried to abort her. Ed refuses her advances, telling her she is "too warm", so that she submerges herself in a bathtub filled with ice. | ||||||
| 25 | 6 | "Buxom Bird" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| Sheriff Arthur Schley and his deputy Frank Worden, Bernice's son, who previously had asked his mother to host a Thanksgiving dinner, arrive at her hardware store, discovering bloodstains and a gift box addressed to Ed. At Ed's farmhouse they find the building in disarray, littered with human remains, and a human heart boiling on the stove. Frank searches the barn and finds his mother's mutilated corpse hanging upside down. He attacks Ed when he returns, before Ed is arrested and interrogated. Questioned by the Sheriff, Ed claims difficulties to remember things correctly, denies having killed anyone and calls digging up bodies his unusual hobby. At his own suggestion, he takes a polygraph test which brings no new insight. Meanwhile, Adeline is beleaguered by the press, presenting herself as a casual acquaintance while exploiting the notoriety of the case. At Bernice's funeral, she pretends to be a reporter trying to interview Frank and is forced away by Arthur and she scoffs off. Arthur then invites Frank over, and Frank spends Thanksgiving at Arthur's but breaks down over dinner while Arthur cuts the turkey, seeing a vision of Ed cutting his mother and imagining the turkey as his mother. | ||||||
| 26 | 7 | "Ham Radio" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| In 1958, Frank Worden drinks to cope with Bernice's death and turns the Gein estate into an attraction, planning to auction the property as the only way to obtain compensation money. Days before the sale, Ed's house burns down, leaving only his car, which Adeline sells at auction. Now institutionalized, Ed receives $300 in proceeds and asks Nurse Salty to buy him three ham radios and women's lingerie. He converses over the radio with Ilse Koch, who encourages him to ignore those calling him a monster and denies having done anything beyond following orders. But haunted by visions of a golem, she hangs herself in prison. Speaking with Christine Jorgensen, Ed confesses feelings of confusion about his identity and his creation of a "woman suit", reminiscent to Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Christine rebukes him, explaining his desires are rooted in an extremely eroticized misogyny. Nurse Roz bans Ed from crossdressing, prompting violent hallucinations at night in which he kills her. When she appears alive the next morning, Ed breaks down. His doctor informs him that the radios never worked and that he has been speaking to himself, diagnosing him with schizophrenia. Under Roz's supervision, Ed begins taking medication. | ||||||
| 27 | 8 | "The Godfather" | Max Winkler | Ian Brennan | October 3, 2025 (2025-10-03) | |
| In the 1970s, Ted Bundy abducts, sexually assaults and kills his victims, cutting off their heads. FBI special agents Robert Ressler and John E. Douglas interview serial killers like Jerry Brudos for offender profiling and Ed, after many have expressed admiration for him. He theorizes that Bundy seeks his mother in his victims and advises them on the kind of hacksaw Bundy might use. Imprisoned murderer Richard Speck forwards to Ed a letter which Bundy has written to Speck. Ed in turn gives it to the police, ultimately leading to Bundy's capture. After the arrest, Ed imagines meeting all serial killers who were inspired by him or idolize him. In the 1980s, Ed is diagnosed with lung cancer and told he has only months to live. Roz, who has become a friend to him, encourages him to write his own story, saying that many people have distorted his story, but he refuses. Adeline visits Ed one final time, confessing her own instability and intent to harm others; Ed urges her to abandon revenge. He later dies peacefully, imagining a reunion with his mother Augusta, who tells him he has "made a name for himself". In 2000, a group of young people vandalizes and steals Ed's gravestone. One of the youths imagines the film characters inspired by Ed: Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill. | ||||||
· Reception › Accolades
Critics' Choice Awards
Critics' Choice Awards
Award
Critics' Choice Awards
Date of ceremony
January 4, 2026
Category
Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries
Recipient(s)
Charlie Hunnam
Result
Pending
Golden Globe Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Award
Golden Globe Awards
Date of ceremony
January 11, 2026
Category
Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Recipient(s)
Pending
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
| Critics' Choice Awards | January 4, 2026 | Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries | Charlie Hunnam | Pending | |
| Golden Globe Awards | January 11, 2026 | Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | Pending |
References
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2024/tv/news/monster-season-3-charlie-hunnam-ed-gein-1236147000/
- TVLinehttps://tvline.com/casting-news/monster-season-3-cast-charlie-hunnam-ed-gein-netflix-1235331518/
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2025/tv/news/monster-the-ed-gein-story-netflix-release-date-first-look-1236499019/
- Colliderhttps://collider.com/ryan-murphy-monster-season-3-ed-gein-explained/
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2024/tv/news/monster-season-3-cast-laurie-metcalf-tom-hollander-olivia-williams-1236178705/
- Monsterhttps://deadline.com/2025/02/monster-season-3-suzanna-son-netflix-ryan-murphy-1236293633/
- Netflix Tudumhttps://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/monster-the-ed-gein-story-release-date-cast-news
- ScreenRanthttps://screenrant.com/monster-season-3-title-halloween-filming-start-date-ryan-murphy-confirmed/
- People.comhttps://people.com/monster-season-3-everything-to-know-8749678
- Reel Chicago Newshttps://reelchicago.com/article/third-season-of-netflix-monster-anthology-series-to-begin-filming-in-chicago/
- TheWraphttps://www.thewrap.com/monster-the-ed-gein-story-ratings-viewership-netflix/
- Deadlinehttps://deadline.com/2025/10/boots-ratings-pentagon-netflix-perfect-neighbor-diplomat-1236593436/
- Netflixhttps://www.netflix.com/tudum/top10/tv?week=2025-11-02
- Rotten Tomatoeshttps://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/monster_2022/s03
- Metacritichttps://www.metacritic.com/tv/monster-2022/season-3/
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2025/tv/reviews/netflix-monster-the-ed-gein-story-review-graphic-unfocused-1236538063/
- The Hollywood Reporterhttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/monster-the-ed-gein-story-review-charlie-hunnam-netflix-1236393105/
- The Agehttps://www.theage.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/worse-than-trash-this-netflix-true-crime-drama-is-repellent-20251005-p5n03u.html
- Vulturehttps://www.vulture.com/article/monster-ed-gein-story-ending-too-far-explained.html
- RogerEbert.comhttps://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/monster-the-ed-gein-story-tv-review-2025
- Autostraddlehttps://www.autostraddle.com/ed-gein-never-even-crossdressed/
- Deadlinehttps://deadline.com/2025/12/critics-choice-awards-2026-nominations-list-1236636613/
- The Hollywood Reporterhttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/golden-globes-nominations-2026-nominees-list-1236444421/