How Netflix’s “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” Was Made — Cast & Crew Panel Discussion

Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story is the third installment in Ryan Murphy’s acclaimed anthology series, following the chilling sagas of Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers. This limited series explores the life and legacy of Ed Gein, the notorious murderer whose gruesome crimes shocked 1950s America and inspired some of the most iconic figures in horror cinema. Blending psychological depth, period authenticity, and a deep exploration of trauma and isolation, Monster: The Ed Gein Story examines the fine line between monstrosity and humanity.

Ian Brennan (Co-Creator, Writer, Director, Executive Producer): It’s been a spectacular experience. I’ve worked on a lot of different shows over the past 17 or 18 years and this feels like the crowning achievement. Seeing the key art for the show on Sunset Boulevard — honestly, that’s the highlight for me. It’s been overwhelming in the best way.

The challenge with this series is always figuring out which story is worth telling for ten hours. People think it’s a “serial killer show,” but that’s not really what we’re doing — most murderers aren’t interesting enough to sustain that kind of narrative. Ed Gein had been on the periphery for years.

He was a strange phantasm; Ryan Murphy would bring up the “nipple belt,” the chair — just these bizarre artifacts. We never imagined we’d actually tell his story until we realized how much he influenced filmmakers and American pop culture. Once we had that angle, the door opened. And, strangely, once we found real empathy for him, that’s when we knew we could tell the story.

Charlie Hunnam (Executive Producer and Actor): Director Max Hinkler totally tricked me! He pitched a show about a pill that would make you beautiful forever, filming in Rome. “Let’s go talk to Ryan,” he said. We met Ryan Murphy, and he’d just been deep in the story — he talked about Ed Gein for two hours, with this sincerity and empathy that surprised me. He spoke about Ed’s influence on pop culture, how much he’d shaped American and global horror, and then he asked if I’d like to play him. I said yes before I really realized what I was agreeing to. Then it dawned on me — no scripts existed, and when I started researching, it was just the darkest stuff imaginable. I panicked and called Max. He reminded me to focus on the human story Ryan had described.

Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam) Photo by Charley Gallay/ Getty Images for Netflix

The breakthrough for me was finding Ed’s medical records. He was a patient in a hospital for the criminally insane for 30 years, and his quarterly reviews were available. Reading those let me see the person behind the monster — the human being. We weren’t interested in cataloging the horrific acts. We were constantly asking: “Why did he do what he did? What turns a human being into a “monster”?

Capturing Ed’s voice was huge for me. There’s actually a tape of Ed Gein — an interview two nights after his arrest. I didn’t get access to it until right before we started shooting. I wanted his voice to be an expression of everything I’d learned about him. There’s this theme in the books and interviews: people described him as effeminate, emotionally fragile, likely to break down in tears if he felt mocked. I wanted to capture that, but also show him as rigid, almost a prisoner in his body, desperately trying to be what his mother wanted. I tried a lot of different ideas. Max Hinkler, brilliant as always, told me he kept hearing “mother, mother” in his head, and that unlocked it for me.

Max Winkler (Director, Executive Producer): Ed’s impact doesn’t mitigate his crimes, but it’s undeniable that his story sent ripples through American culture — think of Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and so many other films. We wanted to show how horror can echo outward. The most chilling part, for me, is in the last episode, seeing those real-life copycat killers. It’s not just about Hollywood — it’s about how Ed’s trauma and actions inspired both art and real-world tragedy. The series is about trying to understand, not condone. It’s about generational trauma, the failures of the mental health system, and the cost of untreated suffering that’s relatively easy to treat.

Matthew Flood Ferguson (Production Designer): We didn’t have all the scripts at first, but we knew we’d move through different places and times. The Gein farmhouse was our anchor. There aren’t many photos — mostly crime scene shots and some Life Magazine features. The house had to feel like a character: cold, creaky, oppressive, and haunted by Ed’s mother. For each era, we used a different palette — monochrome and “skin-colored” for Wisconsin, vivid hues for 1960s LA, and garish, almost plastic colors for the 1970s. Every detail, from the furniture to the wallpaper, was chosen to echo the psychological state of the characters and the time.

Michael Bauman (Director of Photography): We shot with natural light whenever possible, especially for the winter scenes, to emphasize Ed’s loneliness. The snow and emptiness gave us a blank canvas. We kept camera movement minimal, using lots of negative space and silence to build tension. We referenced Andrew Wyeth paintings, In Cold Blood, and Capote. We wanted it to feel like if you scratched the surface of a Norman Rockwell painting, you’d find horror underneath.

Adam Penn (Editor): The challenge was to make the audience feel Ed’s isolation, confusion, and longing, while also tracking the story’s complexity. We blended reality and fantasy, played with memory and time, and used abrupt edits and jump cuts to reflect Ed’s fractured perspective. Sometimes the pacing is slow and meditative, sometimes abrupt and jarring — always to pull the viewer deeper into Ed’s world and mind.

Mac Quayle (Composer): The score had to be organic — real instruments, not period-accurate, but textural. The music had two jobs: to scare, and to evoke empathy. I chose cello for Ed, violin for his mother. We recorded each instrument separately and blended them together — the result is meant to be both unnerving and sad, reflecting Ed’s chaos and the bleakness of the landscape, but also inviting the audience to understand him as a tragic figure.

Ian Brennan and Charlie Hunnam. Photo by Charley Gallay/ Getty Images for Netflix

Ian Brennan: For me, it’s about the tragedy of isolation and untreated mental illness — things that are still so present in our world. We see people suffering, alone, even now. The show isn’t just a period piece; it resonates today. Telling Ed’s story underlines the need for compassion and awareness for people who are struggling.

Max Hinkler: It doesn’t excuse anything, but it does show how trauma and horror can ripple outward, affecting others and inspiring both art and real-life tragedy. The show doesn’t condone Ed’s actions, but helps us understand the deeper context—generational trauma and a failed mental health system. It’s about exploring humanity, not just horror.

Charlie Hunnam: The most powerful part was searching for Ed’s humanity — trying to understand what made him the way he was. Accessing his medical records and working with this creative team, and with Laurie Metcalf who played his mother, helped me see him as a person shaped by trauma, not just a monster.

[More: “Monsters” Ian Brennan Discusses Our Morbid Fascination With True Crime Stories]

by Staff Writer

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