Charlie Hunnam has been cast in a major role for one of Ryan Murphy’s most successful dramas.
At a recent screening for the second instalment in Murphy’s anthology series Monster (16 September), the writer and creator revealed that Hunnam will play serial killer and bodysnatcher Ed Gein in a forthcoming third season.
Often referred to as the “Butcher of Plainfield” or the “Plainfield Ghoul”, Gein robbed graves and collected body parts, which he used to concoct household items and clothing. Although Gein admitted to the two murders of Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957, he was suspected of killing more.
Gein, who died in a mental health facility in 1984, has since served as inspiration for iconic fictional villains such as Norman Bates in Psycho, Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
Season three of Monster will mark the first collaboration between Murphy and Hunnam, who is best known to LGBTQIA+ audiences for his breakout role as Nathan Maloney in Channel 4’s cult series Queer as Folk (1999-2000). He also led FX’s lauded action crime-drama Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014).
Initially billed as a limited series, Monster has been retooled as an anthology series to focus on “other monstrous figures who have impacted society”.
Season one fictionalised the life of serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, played by American Horror Story alum Evan Peters. Although it received mixed reviews and backlash from the families of Dahmer’s victims, it became Netflix’s third most-successful English-language series of all time.
Subtitled The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, season two is based on the murder case of the Menéndez brothers. In 1989, Lyle (Nicholas Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) killed their parents José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny), with the murder trial receiving widespread media attention.
Set to premiere 19 September, the series will also star Nathan Lane, Ari Graynor, Dallas Roberts and
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