Photos leaked on Tuesday from the set of Ryan Murphy’s The Original Monster show Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam transformed into serial killer Ed Gein.
The Original Monster is the third season of Netflix’s anthology show Monsters, which most recently profiled the case of the Menendez brothers. Gein, colloquially known as the Butcher of Plainfield and the Plainfield Ghoul, was a real-life serial murderer who inspired the character of Norman Bates in Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho and Alfred Hitchcock’s film of the same name. His crimes were more directly chronicled in the 1974 grindhouse classic Deranged; and inspired Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from the same year. The depraved murderer Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs (1991) was also based in part on Gein.
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In the photos, Hunnam is clad in a 1950s-style outfit consisting of a black-and-red flannel shirt with brown trousers and loafers. His hair, shaved at the sides, is lightly grayed and swept backward in a retro style.
FIRST LOOK at Charlie Hunnam as serial killer Ed Gein on the set of Ryan Murphy’s “The Original Monster,” coming to Netflix in 2025. pic.twitter.com/huYDria6CY
— The AHS Zone (@AHSZone) November 20, 2024
In addition to murdering two women—Mary Hogan in 1954; and Bernice Wooden in 1957—Gein was a grave robber who would exhume corpses and mutilate them, using pieces of bones and skin to fashion household items such as a waste basket constructed of human skin, a corset made from a torso, and a lampshade made from a victim’s face.
In addition to Hunnam as Gein, the series stars Oscar-nominee Laurie Metcalf as the demented man’s mother, Augusta Gein. It seems that the series will chronicle not only Gein’s crime spree but the media spectacle that followed. Tom Hollander, most recently seen as Truman Capote in Murphy’s Feud, is playing Alfred Hitchcock in the series. Veteran British actress Olivia Williams has been cast as Hitchcock’s wife and collaborator Alma Hitchcock, while Vicky Krieps also appears in an unspecified role.
The Original Monster is expected to debut on Netflix in 2026.
Some first behind-the-scenes snaps for MONSTER: ED GEIN!
— What's on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) November 20, 2024
Photo credits: Dsanchez/CPR/BACKGRID
More: https://t.co/1vZlyWEDgu pic.twitter.com/DNSd56h1iA
