Monster (American TV series)

Did You Know?

• The series was initially conceived as a limited series before being renewed as an anthology.
• The fourth season will focus on murder suspect Lizzie Borden, who was tried and acquitted of the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother.

Production

Ryan Murphy signed a $300 million deal with Netflix in 2018 to create original television shows. On October 2, 2020, a limited series about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was greenlit from Murphy and Ian Brennan, titled Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Actor Evan Peters reportedly stayed in character for months to prepare for the role. Richard Jenkins was announced to star as Lionel Dahmer on October 2, 2020. On March 31, 2021, Michael Learned, Peters, Penelope Ann Miller, and Niecy Nash were announced as Catherine Dahmer, Jeffrey Dahmer, Joyce Dahmer, and Glenda Cleveland respectively, with Shaun J. Brown and Colin Ford cast in undisclosed roles. On November 7, 2022, Netflix renewed the series as an anthology with a two-season order, renamed simply Monster. On May 1, 2023, the second season was announced to center on the Menendez brothers, titled Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez were cast as Erik and Lyle Menendez on June 29, 2023. Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny joined as José and Kitty on January 15, 2024, with Nathan Lane cast as Dominick Dunne that same day. Ari Graynor joined as Leslie Abramson on February 1, 2024, and Leslie Grossman was added that month as Judalon Smyth. On September 16, 2024, the third season was announced to focus on Ed Gein, confirmed on October 4 as The Original Monster, later retitled Monster: The Ed Gein Story in August 2025; principal photography began the next month. On July 28, 2025, the fourth season was announced to focus on Lizzie Borden.

Reception

The first season reached number one on Netflix in its first week. In its second week, Netflix reported Dahmer as its ninth most popular English-language TV show ever, with 56 million households viewing all 10 episodes. It became Netflix's second most-viewed English series and fourth highest across any language with 701.37 million hours viewed in 21 days, and in 60 days became the third Netflix series to pass 1 billion views. On the Nielsen Top 10 streaming chart, it debuted at number one with over 3.6 billion minutes viewed for September 19–25, placing 10th on the all-time single-week list; the next week it rose to 7th with 4.4 billion minutes, and topped the chart a third week with 2.3 billion minutes. The second season debuted at number one globally under Netflix's new metrics, with 12.3 million views (97.5 million hours) in four days. It remained most-watched in its second week with 19.5 million views (153.8 million hours), then earned 13.1 million views (103.6 million hours) in week three and 8.7 million views (68.6 million hours) in week four. On the Nielsen Streaming Chart, it debuted as the top streaming content with 1.72 billion minutes watched, rising 40% in week two to 2.4 billion minutes, the highest since Bridgerton in June 2024. The third season debuted at number two globally with 12.2 million views (90.6 million hours) in three days, then reached number one in week two with 20.7 million views (154.2 million hours), surpassing the second season's second-week record. It dropped to 9.5 million views (70.5 million hours) in week three, below the second season's third-week figure, and earned 2.8 million views (21.2 million hours) in week four, staying on Netflix's global Top 10 for five weeks, shorter than the seven-week runs of the first two seasons.