NEED TO KNOW
- Charlie Hunnam opened up about playing serial killer Ed Gein in season 3 of Monster during an interview ahead of the 2025 Emmys
- Gein was known for his 1950s murder spree and grave robberies
- Hunnam said he saw a more “human” side of the criminal after learning about him and portraying him for the Ryan Murphy Netflix series
Charlie Hunnam has a new perspective on notorious murderer Ed Gein after playing him in the upcoming season of Monster.
On Sunday, Sept. 14, the 45-year-old actor reflected on learning about Gein’s crimes during an interview with Variety. He admitted that he had a moment of panic at first but grew to feel more comfortable in the role as time went on.
“I had the nightmares before I started,” Hunnam explained. “Once I got into it, it was a little easier. But I, for a second, thought maybe I’d made a horrible mistake when I started doing my research and realizing just how despicable some of the stuff he did was. But you know, we tell a very, sort of, varied version, like an all encompassing version of who he was. So the gruesomeness, but there’s also a little bit of, I don’t want to say tenderness, but you see the human in him.”
“He’s one of the more gentle monsters,” he added. “Monstrous no doubt, but he has his gentle side to him.”
Ed Gein; Charlie Hunnam
Hunnam also revealed that he spent all his time engulfed by the job, leaving the set to go “prepare for the next day” and then doing it all over again.
“It was all Monster all the time until we finished,” he noted. “I had a lot of work to do.”
In the trailer for season 3, titled Monster: The Ed Gein Story, fans saw the Sons of Anarchy transformed into the titular serial killer and grave robber. In the 1950s, Gein went on a killing spree and also exhumed graves to use human remains to craft household items and clothing.
Along with the Ryan Murphy series, Gein’s crimes are said to have inspired films like Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Silence of the Lambs. The poster even references his infamy, writing that before there were those movies, “there was Ed.”
In addition to Hunnam as Ed, four-time Emmy-winning actress Laurie Metcalf will play his mom, Augusta Gein. Also in the main cast are Tom Hollander, who recently worked with Murphy by playing Truman Capote on Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, and The Idol‘s Suzanna Son.
Additional cast members include: Vicky Krieps, Olivia Williams, Lesley Manville, Joey Pollari, Charlie Hall and Robin Weigert.
“Serial killer. Grave robber. Psycho. In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, a friendly, mild-mannered recluse named Eddie Gein lived quietly on a decaying farm – hiding a house of horrors so gruesome it would redefine the American nightmare,” the logline reads.
“Driven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein’s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades,” it continues, noting that “Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant.”
“Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre — he became the blueprint for modern horror,” the logline concludes.
The show will be available to stream on Netflix on Oct. 3.
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