The Lizzie Borden Story’ Creator Officially Explains Aileen Wuornos’ Role in Series

This interview contains spoilers for the first two episodes of ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.’

Ian Brennan is one of the most prolific writers and producers working today. Best known for his collaborations with Ryan Murphy, his resume includes everything from the musical coming-of-age series Glee to the horror-dark comedy Scream Queens to the crime drama anthology Monster. Focusing on a different famous killer each season, Monster has previously focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, and the Menendez Brothers.

The newest season moves to uncharted territory by focusing on a female killer, Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty), who was technically acquitted in 1892 for murdering her parents with an axe. This season takes on a more overtly comedic tone than others, playing with both the repression and witty vernacular of the Victorian era. It also tracks female rage in the more distant past through the story of Elizabeth Báthory (Vicky Krieps) and more present-day with Aileen Wuornos (Sarah Paulson).

Collider got a chance to speak with Brennan about taking on the story of Lizzie Borden. During the conversation, Brennan discussed the research he did (and didn’t) do, integrating a more modern soundtrack, the intense casting process, the scrapped Monster stories, whether he’d ever revive Glee, and more.

‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s Creator on Finding the Season’s Darkly Comedic Tone

“That repressed Victorian environment lends itself to a lot of irony.”

COLLIDER: This is the fourth show in the Monster series, and it feels like a bit of a departure in tone. I’m curious how you landed on doing a more dark comedy bend. Did you ever consider a more traditional dramatic approach?

IAN BRENNAN: It varies season to season. Part of it was we felt we were sort of underindexed on women. We definitely felt like it was the time to tell the story of a female killer. Part of the tone had a lot to do with the time period. Writing in the constraints of that repressed Victorian environment lends itself to a lot of irony. There are a lot of things that are clearly happening but going unsaid, and I found myself tickled throughout a lot of it. A lot of the story, for whatever reason, has a dark, comedic tone. It was maybe a little bit less pronounced, but there was that same tone in parts of Dahmer, of the Menendez brothers, of Gein as well — sort of a dark humor that sits below it here — here, it’s just a little bit more pronounced.

What was your research process for this like? And was there anything specific you found out during it that you found particularly surprising or interesting?

BRENNAN: I try not to watch anything. I try not to look at anything else that’s been put to screen. I try to go through as much of the primary source material as I can. I was surprised by how much I felt for her, even while the research led me closer and closer to [the end]. She was acquitted, but I find it really hard to believe that she didn’t do the crime. The circumstances are so strange — it just doesn’t make any sense otherwise. But I really felt bad for her and felt so intrigued about why she would do that. She was a young woman who was in a cage her whole life. The more I learned about her, the more I sort of felt for her, and the more what she did made a strange sort of sense.

I want to talk about the music choices, because I feel like it gives it such a distinct tone. Why did you want to include these female punk hits, especially of the ‘70s and ‘80s?

BRENNAN: We wanted to touch on the idea of female rage not being just one isolated event, but something that reaches into both the deep past and also into the present. When Aileen Wuornos enters the picture, it’s just magnificent. It felt important to us to keep drawing the line to say that this isn’t just a historical thing — this is something that is happening today. The repression that drove her crazy and made her do this horrific act, it’s still there. It’s still around us. Women only had the vote in 1920, and there are still people — half the internet — who would like to go back to that. It’s a myth to think that’s somehow in our past. Also, in general, you run such a risk of letting it feel like a stuffy period piece. Something about adding music, when it’s right, immediately makes it feel more contemporary.

‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s Creator Breaks Down the Grueling Casting Process

“It’s such magic when you see that kind of chemistry on screen.”

I really loved this sapphic romance at the center of everything. Ella and Vicky have such amazing chemistry. What was the casting process for them like? Did you do chemistry reads?

BRENNAN: No, we didn’t. I just worked with Vicky, who we loved. Max, Ryan, and I just adore her and respected her from afar even before working with her. The role of Lizzie was a much wider net. We looked, and looked, and looked, and looked, and looked, and looked, and honestly, seeing Ella’s tape — she’s like the only person who could have done it. She’s the only person I was like, “That’s it,” and I knew right away. It was, like, seven seconds in. You’re like, “Oh, that’s her.” But yeah, you can never tell how actors are going to mesh or if they’re going to get along, but it’s such magic when you see that kind of chemistry on screen. You never quite know whether that’s going to be there, and it was immediate right away.

They’re incredible together. Obviously, your whole lead cast is great, but I really loved the supporting cast. You have Billie Lourd come in, you have Jessica Barden. Can you talk about casting those women, in particular? They make such a splash in just a few scenes.

BRENNAN: They’re so, so great. I hadn’t worked with Billie in ages — not since Scream Queens — and I adore her. It was Ryan’s idea. He was like, “What about Billie?” It’s great when it’s someone you’ve worked with before. It makes the writing easier because you can hear them, and then you have Billie Lourd in your ear, which is hilarious.

We were so lucky with this ensemble. In that sense, it’s so lucky for me to get to work with Ryan because everyone would give their eyes and teeth to work with him. You really get the pick of the litter, and as soon as someone gets mentioned in the writers’ room, it’s like the next day, they’re on board. We’re very, very spoiled.

I want to talk about the extended story scenes with Elizabetta and the Furies. I feel like that’s such an interesting narrative choice, especially to have that depicted and not just Bridget telling the story. Can you talk about including and crafting those scenes? They’re so visually interesting.

BRENNAN: Yeah, they’re super fun. It’s sort of a trope that I end up doing a lot in my work with Ryan. I think, dramaturgically, they’re a nice break, and they sort of expand the story in a way. When an internal subplot is narrated, you can move through it really quickly, and it can be super visual. Sometimes, writing them feels more like crafting a music video — technically, you can get a little bit more definitive about writing what the shots are, and you get to direct those things as a writer a little bit more.

It was only in researching Lizzie that I knew about her. I didn’t really know who Elizabeth Bathory was, and I didn’t know that she’s as much of — possibly even more of — an inspiration for Dracula than Count Vlad in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I did not account for how formative and how historically important that story was, and it sort of put a female underline beneath the whole proceeding. It’s essentially like, “Hey, remember this?” Being able to tell that story as the background of the current story just made a lot of sense. It added some depth and rationale to the whole thing.

And then, when we jump forward in time and get to the character of Aileen Wuornos, you sort of realize, “Oh wow. This threat of female rage is not some aberration. That’s part of our history. That’s part of human nature,” which is a really interesting thing to land on, and I think it gives the show a lot of depth.

‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Creator on Scrapped Seasons and a Potential ‘Glee’ Reboot

“I’ve probably written four abandoned starts to the series.”

The Monster anthology has covered a wide array of stories. What cases do you think would be interesting to take on next? Is there anything buzzing around in your mind?

BRENNAN: There always is, and then we always move off of it. We thought about doing Luigi, which is fascinating. The Unabomber is interesting. BTK is fascinating to me. Sometimes they show up in each other’s stories. Gacy shows up in Jeffrey Dahmer’s story. Ted Bundy shows up in Ed Gein’s story. He’s a fascinating, strange subject. The Green River Killer. Zodiac Killer. They’re all interesting.

What’s so interesting about this series is how there are so many killers and murderers to choose from, but so few of them are stories that you want to spend six to seven hours unpacking. That’s really been my experience. The thing that stands out to me working on a show like this is how few killers are interesting at all. They’re mostly not. Most murders are not. They’re just horrible, and there’s nothing interesting about them. They’re just awful. So it’s a really tricky line to walk. You know when you happen upon it — when it’s a story kind of makes you lean in. There’s nothing more horrific than what Jeffrey Dahmer did, but it’s also completely fascinating.

That’s the only difficult part of this show — trying to land on something. Once we do, the crafting of it is much easier. That’s the easy part. Figuring out what we’re writing, that’s the tricky part. So we’ll see. It always changes. We always go through, and we make a lot of false starts. I’ve probably written four abandoned starts to the series. The hardest part of my job is landing on one.

I grew up a huge Glee fan. Ryan Murphy recently said he’s potentially open to doing a reboot, so I have to ask: is that something that you would be open to and interested in as well?

BRENNAN: The answer is yes. For the longest time, it didn’t feel like the right time, and for some reason, lately, it has. I don’t know what’s in the water, but yeah. Watch this space.

Oh, I will be watching it closely. Is there a specific artist or song you think is particularly well-suited to get the Glee treatment?

BRENNAN: Oh, god. I always like classic rock. That’s what I always liked the most. I feel like we didn’t do enough Boston.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix.

Release Date

September 17, 2026

Network

Netflix

Directors

Max Winkler, Sarah Adina Smith