Charlie Hunnam made a name for himself with the massively popular award-winning series “Sons of Anarchy,” as Jax Teller, leader of the motorcycle gang. The series ended in heartbreak for fans back in 2014. Now, Hunnam is returning to the small screen with a chilling new role. He will portray notorious killer Ed Gein in Netflix’s “Monsters: The Original Monster” (aka “Monster: Ed Gein”), which is the third installment of Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology series.
An Exploration of Ed Gein
Following the dramatizations of Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers, Murphy is shifting focus to Ed Gein. Gein inspired horror characters like Norman Bates in Psycho and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This season, which began filming last year, will explore Gein’s influence on pop culture.
Unlike the previous seasons, which featured the killers’ names in their titles, this season is titled “Monsters: The Original Monster” because, as Murphy explained to Collider, “that’s kind of what he was.” Gein’s crimes, including murder and grave robbing, captivated the public in the 1950s, marking the beginning of a morbid fascination with serial killers that persists today.
Murphy discusses the new season: “We were interested in this idea of, ‘Where did our cultural interest in serial killers begin? Where and how did this all start?’ Based on our research, the very first one who became a celebrity at that level was Ed, an instant crazy celebrity from the moment he was arrested … Nobody had ever heard of anything like that.”
The season will delve into Gein’s influence on films, including The Silence of the Lambs. It will also explore his history with schizophrenia and his unhealthy obsession with his mother. The series will also explore the numerous homicides he was suspected of, despite confessing to only two murders.
The Cast
Hunnam will star alongside Emmy winners Laurie Metcalf as Gein’s mother and Tom Hollander as Alfred Hitcock. Olivia Williams will play Hitchcock’s wife.
The Premiere
While the exact premiere date for “Monsters: The Original Monster” hasn’t been confirmed, the new season may premiere as early as this Summer. We will keep you posted as more news surfaces. In the meantime, watch the first two seasons of Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters” now on Netflix.
For those interested in a less dramatized account of Gein’s crimes, MGM+ recently released the docuseries “Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein.”
