English actor Charlie Hunnam continues to build up the kind of varied filmography that many in the biz would love to call their own, even if his most hardcore fans will likely never fully separate him from the role that made him a household name, Sons of Anarchy’s Jax Teller. But that could all change soon, as he’s joining one of Netflix’s biggest shows for a role that will likely make Jax’s horrific actions look like mere child’s play.
The Pacific Rim vet is set to take on the starring role for the third season of Ryan Murphy’s killer thriller anthology Monster, which will soon arrive in plural form on the 2024 TV premiere schedule via Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. But Hunnam won’t be portraying a newspaper journalist or an obsessed investigator or anything so simple; no, he’ll be portraying one of the most notorious and unfortunately influential serial killers of all time, Ed Gein.
This bonkers reveal comes courtesy of mega-producer Ryan Murphy himself, who made the announcement while promoting Season 2 at an event in Los Angeles. While further details weren’t bandied about, one only has to look at Evan Peters’ take on Jeffrey Dahmer in the chart-topping first season of Monster to get an idea of what to expect.
Of course, Ed Gein’s highly disturbing history, both criminal and personal, also offers up insights into what audiences may see Hunnam doing. Known as the Butcher of Plainfield, and hailing from the noted Wisconsin town, Gein became known not so much for the murders he was convicted for, but for robbing graves and fashioning household items out of people’s corpses, such as bowls made from human skulls and furniture decorated with skin and bones.
Gein’s (reported) decade of horrifying crimes and lifestyle finally came to an end in 1957 when he was captured by the town’s deputy sheriff, whose father served as Gein’s final victim. Though he wasn’t deemed to be fit for trial for another decade, he quickly gained notoriety after his atrocities were made public, and served as the inspiration for various horror and thriller icons, specifically Psycho’s Norman Bates — Gein did indeed make something of a skin suit from his mother’s skin — Texas Chain-Saw Massacre’s Leatherface and The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter.
Currently, Charlie Hunnam is set to star in one of my most anticipated shows of the foreseeable future, Prime Video’s series take on Criminal, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ award-winning crime noir comic book series. So to think that he’ll be jumping from that into portraying Ed Gein is wild, and will certainly test the actor’s ability to put audiences on edge in highly disturbing ways.
It’s also potentially Hunnam’s best shot yet at becoming an award-season threat, since Ryan Murphy’s anthologized series tend to shine brightly when nominations are being handed out. The first season of Monster, which remains the third most-watched series in Netflix’s history, landed star Evan Peters a Golden Globe win, while Niecy Nash took home the Emmy for her work as neighbor Glenda Cleveland.
All episodes of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will be available to stream with a Netflix subscription on Thursday, September 19, though it’s unclear if Season 3 will be ready to arrive within the 2025 TV lineup or not.
