Showrunner Ian Brennan tells PEOPLE which famous killers and suspects he’s eyeing for future seasons of ‘Monster’

NEED TO KNOW

• Monster showrunner Ian Brennan teases which killers he’s considering for future seasons
• “God, there’s so many,” he tells PEOPLE
• Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is available to stream on Netflix

The Monster saga has a long list of potential subjects queued up for future seasons.

The latest installment of Netflix’s hit anthology series, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, premiered Thursday, Sept. 17, and showrunner Ian Brennan, 48 — who created the show with Ryan Murphy — is already thinking about which famous killers and suspects he wants to feature in future seasons. 

“God, there’s so many,” he tells PEOPLE. “We’ve talked about BTK (Dennis Rader). [He] is a fascinating one… Ted Bundy, Green River Killer… We’ve toyed with Luigi Mangione, who is fascinating.”

Rader, known as the BTK killer, pleaded guilty to 10 murders in 2005 and received multiple life sentences. Bundy was convicted of multiple murders and confessed to dozens of killings before his 1989 execution, while Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, pleaded guilty to 49 murders. Mangione, meanwhile, pleaded guilty in federal court in August 2026 to two stalking charges resulting in death in connection with the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

While Brennan says there are a “million” to choose from, it’s hard to find one that’s perfect for a season of Monster. “It’s all tricky because most murderers just aren’t that interesting. It’s horrific, and you don’t want to watch it,” he explains. 

“That’s what’s so tricky about the show is finding a subject matter that you can spend 10 hours with. It’s one thing to watch a movie about something, to spend 90 minutes in the head of someone, but six or seven hours is a whole other thing.” 

Brennan shares that the key is finding someone or a story that makes viewers “lean in.” Along with choosing a subject an audience can invest in, he notes it’s also hard to find one that he and Murphy can agree on. 

“That’s the most curious part of this process is trying to land on something that Ryan and I both find worth the effort and worth the time,” Brennan explains. “It’s so interesting how few stories really fit this anthology. I continue to be fascinated by that fact. It’s really, really tricky to find something that you want to explore deeper.” 

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When it came to Monster‘s fourth season, featuring Lizzie Borden — the infamous accused ax murderer from the 1800s — felt like the “right” choice the further he researched her. 

“She’s so enigmatic as a historical figure. I didn’t even know that much about her. I don’t think most people do,” he explains. “When we began to dig into the research, I was just immediately taken with how much I felt for her and how much I got why she did what she did.” (The Massachusetts woman was accused of murdering her father and stepmother, but was acquitted of the murders.)

“There was something that was really, really very likeable about her as a person despite the crime that I think she likely committed because she was sort of a caged animal,” Brennan continues. “I think she was a product of a time [when] it was really difficult to be a young woman. She was so constrained by not just her family, but her opportunities, the community she lived in, the psychology of the time.” 

Brennan also notes that it was time the Monster saga featured a woman, as previous seasons highlighted the stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, Erik and Lyle Menendez, and Ed Gein. “We’d sort of over-indexed on men for the series, and it just felt like this was the right time and the right subject to look at, to look squarely at the idea of female rage.” 

The Lizzie Borden Story is also the first time a season of Monster will explore multiple subjects. Along with Borden, played by Ella Beatty, the fourth installment features Countess Elizabeth Báthory (Vicky Krieps) and Aileen Wuornos (Sarah Paulson). 

“Lizzie was fascinated by Elizabeth Báthory, and Aileen Wuornos was fascinated with Lizzie Borden,” Brennan explains. “So in a way, it was there for the taking, and it reminded us that female rage is something that runs through human history.” 

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is available to stream on Netflix. 

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