Ed Gein Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story shows how Charlie Hunnam changed into the infamous killer, his relationship with Adeline Watkins, and how Gein influenced horror movies like Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It also goes into detail about Gein’s abusive childhood, his schizophrenia diagnosis, his arrest, and his lasting impact on true crime and pop culture.
An Introduction to the Ed Gein Netflix Series
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, is the third book in the series. After the global hits Jeffrey Dahmer (2022) and the Menendez brothers (2024), this new season focuses on Ed Gein, the Wisconsin murderer and grave robber whose gruesome crimes inspired horror movies like Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. All eight episodes were released at once on October 3, 2025, at 3 a.m. ET and 12 a.m. PT.
Charlie Hunnam’s Change for Ed Gein on Netflix
To play Gein, British actor Charlie Hunnam, who is best known for Sons of Anarchy, went through one of his most extreme changes. He lost 30 pounds to look like Gein’s thin body and kept a voice that sounded like a child’s throughout the filming.
- Hunnam got his hands on a rare 70-minute tape made two days after Gein’s arrest. He used the murderer’s strange tone and inflection to shape his performance.
- He thought about how his broken relationship with Augusta, Gein’s overbearing mother, affected his mind when she told him every day that he should have been a girl.
- Hunnam said that he often freaked out early on because he thought the role was “too bleak.” But he kept going after Sarah Paulson told him to “look deep and find it.”
- Filming in freezing Chicago weather made him almost starve; his coworkers said he was always hungry but completely dedicated.
- He even went to Gein’s unmarked grave after the movie was done and told the killer that their journey together was over.
Ed’s Mother, Augusta Gein, Haunted Him
Laurie Metcalf plays Augusta Gein, who is the main character in Ed Gein Netflix. Augusta was very religious and kept her sons away from women, telling them that women were “handmaidens of the devil.”
- Gein took care of her after she had several strokes before she died.
- Gein turned her room into a shrine after she died. He later admitted to killing women who looked like her.
- Augusta’s control over Ed’s life is similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, where Norman Bates’ obsession with his mother was based on Gein.
Reports say that Metcalf agreed to the role without reading a script because he trusted Murphy’s vision.
Adeline Watkins-What is true and what is not in Ed Gein Netflix
Adeline Watkins, played by Suzanna Son, is one of the most talked-about characters in the series.
- The show makes her out to be Ed’s girlfriend, going with him on trips to steal graves, feeding his obsessions, and even saying yes to his proposal.
- Watkins said in an interview from 1957 that she had a 20-year relationship with Gein. She called him “kind, polite, and sweet” and said that sometimes she felt like she “took advantage” of him.
- She said he asked her to marry him on their last date in 1955.
- But Watkins changed his mind within a few weeks, saying the story was “blown out of proportion.” She made it clear that their relationship lasted only seven months, during which time they went to a few movies and bars together, but she had never been to his house.
- At first, her mother said Gein was “sweet,” but Watkins later said she never used that word.
Netflix made her role bigger so that she could be a vessel for Ed’s fantasies, which blurred the line between what was real and what was not.
The Crimes That Led to Ed Gein on Netflix
Ed Gein was found guilty of only two murders: Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957. But his crimes were much worse than that.
- He dug up graves in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and took body parts home with him.
- Police found furniture made from human remains, a “woman suit” made of skin, and body parts turned into bowls, masks, and lampshades.
- Worden’s body was found tied up in his barn, and Hogan’s head was found in his house.
The show doesn’t shy away from gruesome details, even recreating the shower scene from Hitchcock’s Psycho with a lot of nudity and violence, which critics said was exploitative.
Ed Gein Netflix-Influences from Hollywood and Horror
One of the more ambitious storylines is the show’s look at Gein’s cultural impact:
- Tom Hollander plays Alfred Hitchcock, who is having trouble with his wife Alma’s disapproval as he turns Robert Bloch’s Gein-inspired novel into Psycho.
- Joey Pollari plays Anthony Perkins, the nervous actor who was chosen to play Norman Bates.
- Will Brill plays Tobe Hooper, who made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre using images from the Vietnam War and Gein’s legacy.
- There are also ties to The Silence of the Lambs, like the disturbing scene where Buffalo Bill tucks in.
Critics said the show was “connecting dots with crayons” because it hints at cultural analysis but doesn’t go into much detail.
Ed Gein Netflix Supporting Cast
Laurie Metcalf plays Augusta Gein
One of the most important parts for Metcalf is playing Gein’s overbearing mother. She is known for Lady Bird and Roseanne, and she has a chillingly austere presence that shows Augusta’s religious zealotry and her suffocating control over Ed.
Suzanna Son plays Adeline Watkins
Suzanna Son (Red Rocket) plays Adeline, Gein’s confusing “girlfriend.” Her performance makes people wonder if Adeline was real, made up, or both.
Tom Hollander plays Alfred Hitchcock
Hollander, who is heavily made up, plays Hitchcock during the time of Psycho, showing the master filmmaker struggling to adapt Gein’s story.
Alma Reville is played by Olivia Williams
Williams plays Hitchcock’s wife, Alma, who is a quiet voice of reason that Hitchcock ignores as he becomes obsessed with turning Gein into a movie.
Anthony Perkins played by Joey Pollari
Pollari, who is best known for Looking, captures Perkins’ nervous charm as he becomes Norman Bates.
Ilse Koch is played by Vicky Krieps
Krieps plays Koch, a Nazi war criminal. Her scenes with Gein show how disgusting it is that pulp magazines are connected to his obsessions.
Lesley Manville plays the part of Bernice Worden
The actress who was nominated for an Oscar plays Gein’s last murder victim, which makes the show more real by showing how his crimes hurt people.
Evelyn Hartley is played by Addison Rae
Rae plays Evelyn Hartley, a real babysitter who went missing in 1953. Historically, her disappearance was never linked to Gein, but Netflix makes it a part of his dark world.
Sheriff Schley is played by Tyler Jacob Moore
Moore plays the Wisconsin sheriff who arrested Gein in 1957. He said that working on the set was “genuinely shocking” because of Hunnam’s disturbing performance.
Ryan Murphy’s Obsession with Ed Gein
For Murphy, Ed Gein Netflix is for you. He first saw Psycho when he was 8 years old and was scared by the shower scene. He later learned from an encyclopedia that Norman Bates was based on Gein.
- Murphy says that every generation makes up its own bogeyman. Gein’s story is still scary because he seemed like a “simple farm boy” hiding his evil urges.
- Ian Brennan, one of the show’s creators, said this season was the “most impressive” of his career. He said it asks the question, “Are monsters born or made?”
Ed Gein Netflix-Nazi Crimes and Ilse Koch
The show controversially includes Ilse Koch, a Nazi war criminal known as the “Bitch of Buchenwald,” played by Vicky Krieps.
- In the show, Adeline gives Gein comics about Koch, which makes him interested in things made from human skin.
- Graphic recreations of Nazi parties and atrocities were criticized for fetishism and exploitation, which is similar to the problems Murphy has had in American Horror Story.
Evelyn Hartley Subplot-Where Fiction and Reality Meet
Addison Rae plays Evelyn Hartley, a real babysitter who went missing in 1953, which is another creative choice. Even though she was never connected to Gein in real life, the series imagines her disappearance in his orbit, which has led to criticism for mixing fact and fiction.
How critics reacted to Ed Gein on Netflix
There have been mixed reviews:
- The Guardian (Lucy Mangan) called it “unforgivable” for being obsessed with depravity.
- Daniel Fienberg from The Hollywood Reporter says: It was called “a thematically ambitious mess.”
- RogerEbert.com (Brian Tallerico): He didn’t like how it “shallowly recreated” crimes, but he did like how it tried to look at how pop culture affects people.
- Many critics pointed out hypocrisy: they condemned society’s obsession with true crime while enjoying lurid shows themselves.
Ed Gein’s Cultural Legacy
Historians say Gein is still the archetypal monster in America:
- Harold Schechter called him the “first all-American monster,” showing how the 1950s were both wholesome and dark in small towns.
- Adam Golub said that today’s obsession with true crime brings back the same famous names over and over again. “It was simply Ed’s turn,” he said.
- Critics say the series doesn’t have to deal with issues of retraumatization that plagued the Dahmer season because the families of the victims have long since died.
The future of Netflix’s Monster Series
Netflix has already said that Season 4 will be about Lizzie Borden. Future seasons might be about Aileen Wuornos and Elizabeth Báthory. There are rumors that Charlie Hunnam will come back in a different role.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH : Monster-The Ed Gein Story
The Netflix show Ed Gein has two sides
Monster-The Ed Gein Story tries to show the human side of the horror, but it could end up glorifying his terrible deeds. Charlie Hunnam’s scary performance, Laurie Metcalf’s chilling Augusta, and Suzanna Son’s mysterious Adeline anchor a series that is beautiful to look at but morally divisive.
At its heart, it asks: do monsters come into being or are they made? The answer, like Gein himself, may be hidden in the darkest parts of America’s nightmares.
FAQ’S
Is the Ed Gein story on Netflix?
Yes, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which came out on Netflix on October 3, 2025, tells the story.
What is the Netflix movie about Ed Gein?
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is not a movie; it’s an eight-episode series.
Charlie Hunnam, where can I see the Ed Gein story?
Only Netflix has it.
Is Ed Gein really being played by Charlie Hunnam?
Yes, Charlie Hunnam plays Ed Gein in the Netflix show.
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