The Future Of Ryan Murphy Shows: Part 5

Today's the day that American Horror Story: 13 finally premieres on FX/Hulu/Disney+ and last night's premiere in New York with the cast and crew revealed so much stuff from the world of Ryan Murphy. Let's break stuff down.

After two and half years off the air, American Horror Story: 13 will tell one of the biggest crossover events in the show's history. There's so many returning actors/characters, iconic fan favourites to look forward to within a new story focusing on the number 13. The season is being anchored by Joey Pollari and Paul Anthony Kelly's respective characters, Ben DeSoto and Mr. Nas. By now, there are almost too many spoilers out there, so I'll say only one other thing because how can I not?

Remember when Ariana Grande was supposed to be part of the new season but dropped out? Apparently, she was going to reprise her role of Chanel #2 from Scream Queens. Even in 2026, that short lived show continues to have a lasting legacy. Circling back to American Horror Story, it seems that an international version of the show could be in the works.

Back to network television, the upcoming seasons of both 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville will premiere next month. October 15th on ABC to be specific. The former show will be tackling a volcanic disaster while the latter will tackle killer bees and will see the debut of Ryan Philippe's detective Rogue. There's also some plot involving a serial killer too. I'll be honest, I'll be dropping both shows after their upcoming seasons.

Speaking of Ryan Murphy shows that I've struggled with, the second season of FX/Hulu's All's Fair will drop it's first three episodes from November 5th and will air into December. I recently finished The Shards and personally, I wouldn't recommend it as a show. The Beauty has effectively been cancelled but it seems like Netflix's The Watcher may be returning for a second season. Ryan Murphy also revealed last month that he has a vampire drama in the works that will start filming in Europe from December. Expect the cast to be announced soon.

It's been a week since Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story was released on Netflix. I watched in a day and my review's up. Like with previous seasons, this Ella Beatty led one certainly divided audience and critics alike. It also debuted with 12.1 million views during its first weekend, so expect a fifth season renewal fairly soon. Ian Brennan has also expressed having ideas for ten seasons of the popular anthology series.

Last but not least - could we actually be getting a revival of popular FOX show, Glee? Personally, we shouldn't but Ryan Murphy has written a script and contacted ten cast members from the original show. I think it's gonna at least film a pilot within the next year or two. Whether or not it'll get picked up to series, I'm not so sure. I do think some things should be left in the past. 

That's a round up of all of Ryan Murphy's shows for the time being. Some interesting stuff, huh?

My Review of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story (Netflix Series, 2026)

 

Written by Ian Brennan

Directed by Max Winkler And Sarah Adina Smith

Lizzie (to Bridget): "Just let me have the first whack."

In the previous three seasons of Monster/s, we've seen audiences being wholly divided on the handling of Jeffrey Dahmer, Lyle and Erik Menendez and Ed Gein. It was definitely time to tackle an infamous American female killer. Funny how two of them factor into this fourth season with mixed results.

Over the last few months, I've watched some other depictions of Lizzie Borden in preparation for this show. Ella Beatty isn't a stranger to the world of Ryan Murphy as she's previously appeared in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans and acquitted herself well there. She's finely cast here as Lizzie Borden herself but if I'm being honest, she's slightly upstaged by Vicky Krieps's constant hair changing Irish maid, Bridget Sullivan.

Krieps might be the ultimate standout of this season as a whole. As Bridget, there's the impact of her relationship with Lizzie, which did of course go down the Sapphic route between the two of them. She's also instrumental in the brutal deaths of Lizzie's father Andrew (Charlie Hunnam) and stepmother Abby Borden (Rebecca Hall). Oftentimes, I felt like I knew Bridget more than I knew Lizzie.

On top of that, Krieps also spent half the season playing the sadistic and bloodthirsty Countess Elizabeth Bathory. She's just as effective in that role as she was as Bridget. The more I think of it, the more it's clear that Krieps was the standout performance of the whole season.

While the Elizabeth Bathory plot managed to tie into Lizzie Borden's story better than expected, I'll admit the use of Aileen Wuornos was more of a mixed bag. Sarah Paulson gave the sort of performance that was solid work but some of the dialogue that tried to draw parallels between Aileen and Lizzie was very clunky at times. It didn't quite land as it should've done.

Getting back to Family Borden. Yup, they were a lot. Abby behaved like the typical evil stepmother while Andrew barely tolerated his daughters and second wife. Emma Borden (Billie Lourd) didn't care for Lizzie until the script needed her to and abandoned her when the script also required her to do so.

Then there's estranged uncle John Morse (Joey Pollari) himself. He's a guy who desperately wanted money he felt he was owed and tried and failed to be a foil to both Andrew and Lizzie at different points. There's a brief encounter with Abby that added little value to proceedings before he slipped out of the picture as quickly as he entered.

Another character who was a mixed bag was stage actress Nance O'Neil (Jessica Barden). I found the character grating to begin with but she won me over with the way she trained Lizzie for that trial. One of the campest performances in the entire season.

Now this had me thinking as well. The first three seasons were dead serious but tonally, it felt like this season was riffing the likes of Killing Eve and Fleabag. The season tried to say a lot about female rage and even ended on voting rights for women. It's handling of such topics aren't bad but definitely could've been tackled a little better.

- Episode titles are Bloodbath, Strong Kitty, Whack Job!, R.I.P. (Rest In Pestilence) Abby Borden, 41, Bed And Breakfast, The Trial Of The Century and Carnival.

- Andrew named all of his axes after women while John named his knives after men. John being a suspect was briefly referenced in the last episode.

- Other noteworthy performances were from Jessica Lee, Ari Graynor and Linda Reiter.

- Cherries were referenced a lot with the likes of Lizzie, Bridget, Abby and John all being fond of them. Both the fruit and the trees.

- Standout music: The Runaways Cherry Bomb, Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy and Natalie Merchant's Carnival.

- Chronology: 1892 to 1911 in Falls River, Massachusetts as well as Montana. There was also 1500/1600s Hungary for Elizabeth Bathory and 1980s/1990s/2000s for Aileen Wuornos.

I think Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story was definitely an improvement on the previous season but not as strong as the first two seasons. It had things to say about female rage, prisons, misogyny and so on but the messages don't quite land the way they should. Ella Beatty was a good casting choice for Lizzie Borden but it's Vicky Krieps's dual roles of Bridget Sullivan and Elizabeth Bathory that was the standout of this season.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix Series, 2025)

 

Written by Ian Brennan

Directed by Max Winkler And Ian Brennan 

Ed Gein (to Anthony Perkins): "You're the one who can't look away."

It's that time of year again for Ryan Murphy to stoke the ire of social media with another true crime horror fest that takes too many creative liberties so to speak. After what we saw with Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers, what could he do with Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam) to piss off the internet?

Well, quite a lot of actually. This was never going to be a sensitive portrayal of the real life killer/grave robber and once again, there's that danger of this anthology series drawing too much sympathy for the subject matter as well as sexualising them.

There's no getting away from the fact that leading man Charlie Hunnam doesn't look a thing like Ed Gein and there's only so much that hair, makeup and prosthetics can do and here, they do struggle to mostly hide their lead man's attractiveness under a sinister figure of terror.

Throughout these eight episodes, we're given insight into Ed's relationships with women and some with his victims. His most prominent relationships naturally involved women. His abusive mother, Augusta (Laurie Metcalf) did a number on Ed's views towards other women and his own sexuality and gender issues. Yes, there's an attempt to examine if Ed might have been trans but it's handled in a very messy way.

Then we've got a romance of sorts with local girl, Adeline Watkins (Suzanna Son). She's written as a toxic enabler with her own dark impulses who had no problem exploiting Gein's eventual downfall for her own gain. While this portrayal doesn't mirror the person's it's based, Suzanna Son did emerge as a break out talent here.

Now, what about Gein's actual victims? There's some focus on babysitter, Evelyn Hartley (Addison Rae) and hardware shop owner, Bernice Worden (Lesley Manville). The emphasis being more on the latter and how her death being the very thing to bring about Ed's exposure as a grotesque killer before he spent his remaining years institutionalised before his own demise.

Unlike the seasons that focused on Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers, this season might have less episodes but it often felt like it tried to do too much as well. For example, Ed's fixation on transwoman Christine Jorgensen (Alanna Darby) and Nazi war criminal, Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps) took more screen time than it needed to, if I'm being honest.

On top of that, there's also some focus put into the three prominent movies it influenced - Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence Of The Lambs. The first movie made the subplots of two episodes with director Alfred Hitchcock (Tom Hollander) drawing wholly inappropriate similarities between Gein and his closeted leading man, Anthony Perkins (Joey Pollari). The likes of Tobe Hopper (Will Brill) and Buffalo Bill actor, Trent Levine (Golden Garnick) are less emphasised. Again, these are things that probably could've been mentioned in passing.

Circling back to Gein, the series doesn't skim on the gore or depravity of his hobbies and there's moments where it's in danger of humanising Gein too much before pulling it back. Gein's ending however was unwisely given a bit of a rockstar type of send off. I get what it's trying but it's definitely a misplaced choice here.

- Episode titles for the series were Mother!, Sick As Your Secrets, The Babysitter, Green, Ice, Buxom Bird, Ham Radio and The Godfather.

- Anthony's relationship with Tab Hunter (Jackie Kay) was explored briefly as well as his conversion therapy. Joey Pollari feels like a future American Horror Story regular to me.

- Both Charlie Hunnam and Vicky Krieps will appear in the next season, which will focus on Lizzie Borden and has now gone into production.

- Other serial killers that appeared included Ted Bundy, Richard Speck, Charles Manson, Jerry Brudos. It gets a bit Mindhunter in the last episode. Real life crime scene photographer Weegee (Elliot Gould) also factored into a subplot for Adeline.

- Standout music: The marketing had fun with the remastered version of the Pet Shop Boys It's A Sin.

- Chronology: 1944-1984, Wisconsin mainly. Also taking in post Nazi Germany, Washington, Los Angeles and so on. 

Arguably the weakest in this anthology series, I did struggle a bit with Monster: The Ed Gein Story. Saying that, I do think there's some very strong performances, notably with it's leading man. Charlie Hunnam might have given the most interesting performance in his whole acting career to date.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story (2024 Netflix Series)

 

Written by Ryan Murphy And Ian Brennan And David McMillan And Reilly Smith And Todd Kubrak 

Directed by Carl Franklin And Paris Barclay And Michael Uppendahl And Max Wrinkler And Ian Brennan

Lyle: "Erik and I killed our parents together so I'd say that makes us pretty close."

Two years ago, the arrival of Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story made quite an impression on Netflix. Yes, it warranted criticism but it also blew up in viewers and gave Evan Peters something of a career boost. It looks like history has repeated itself once again.

I'm familiar enough with the story behind the Menendez brothers and this isn't the first time we've had a movie or series on the high profile killers in the last decade. It's certainly however due to Ryan Murphy's influence become the most provocative with his usual tropes and dramatic licencing very much front and centre. For better and worse, depending on your point of view.

The one thing that Ryan Murphy can be credited would be casting and throughout the nine episodes, he's found future stars in both Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch. Regardless of your stance on Murphy's handling of true crime, both leading men give some of the best performances in this genre alone.

The first episode played out with both Lyle (Chavez) and Erik (Koch) orchestrating the murder of their parents Jose (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloe Sevigny) in rather graphic detail. Coupled with the lads hedonistic spending and Erik confessing to therapist Dr. Jerome Oziel (Dallas Roberts), the perfect crime wasn't so perfect after all.

Granted it was Oziel's mistress Judalon Smyth (Leslie Grossman) who ultimately reported the Menendez brothers to the police, albeit not for moral reasons but her actions certainly started quite the ripple effect. The boys got arrested, sent to the same prison but ended up separated in different wings before ultimately leading up a trial that took years to end the way it was inevitably going to.

In the boys corner, you had Erik's lawyer Leslie Abrahamson (Ari Gaynor) who believed in their innocence and tried to help them, even when the media eventually turned on them. She believed their story about being abused by their parents and fought to get them freed but couldn't win over the court or the general public who also turned on them.

On the other side, you had Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane), a journalist who experienced the loss of a child and seemed unconvinced of the Menendez brothers innocence throughout the entire trial. Sometimes it seemed like his own personal tragedy clouded his judgement but even then, this miniseries tried to look at both perspectives behind the motives of Lyle and Erik's crime.

- The episode titles are Blame It On The Rain, Spree, Brother Can You Spare A Dime?, Kill Or Be Killed, The Hurt Man, Don't Dream It's Over, Showtime, Seismic Shifts and Hang Men.

- Cooper Koch certainly gave an Emmy nominated worthy performance in the fifth episode, a two handed between him and Ari Graynor. The show hinted at Erik maybe being sexually confused though the real Erik is straight.

- The boys had an encounter with O.J. Simpson and even mention Jeffrey Dahmer, so there was those links to Ryan Murphy's other true crime exploits.

- The next (and presumably) last season of Monster/s will focus on Ed Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam.

- Standout music: A good selection including Don't Dream It's Over, which was used to great effect.

- Chronology: Mostly from 1989 to 1996 but also flashbacks to 1962 for the backstory of Jose and Kitty meeting each other.

I enjoyed the previous and I really enjoyed Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. Yes, there's creative liberties taken with it but there's also some career making performances from both Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, who excel as both Lyle and Erik. You might as well watch it.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022 Netflix Series)

It took me a little longer to catch up with this recent and rather controversial limited series from Netflix, focusing on infamous serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. Was it worth the watch?

Written by Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan & David McMillan & Janet Mock & Reilly Smith & Todd Kubrak

Directed by Carl Franklin & Clement Virgo & Jennifer Lynch & Paris Barclay & Gregg Araki

Glenda Cleveland (to the police): "I called you for months and its too late. Y'all come too late."

Ryan Murphy's foray into the world of Netflix over the last three years with the type of shows he's chosen to do have been a mixed bag for some. As shows they've largely felt no different to the majority of his FX content and in some respects, the rather long title of Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story could've easily been a lost season of American Crime Story. In fact, watching this series did remind me of the second season of that show, which had focused on Andrew Cunanan's murder of Gianni Versace. Tonally, this series wasn't that much different to it.

The first episode opened with Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters) taking home his last victim, Tracy Edwards (Shaun J. Brown) with the intention of killing him. Only this time, Tracy managed to escape from Dahmer's grasp, alert the police and get Dahmer arrested to the relief and anger of his neighbour Glenda Cleveland (Niecy Nash), who had warned the police about Dahmer, only to have been ignored by them.

From the second to the seventh episodes, most of this limited series put the focus on Dahmer's childhood. We see him growing up as a strange kid with a morbid fixation on taxidermy, something which had been encouraged by his father, Lionel (Richard Jenkins). We also see Lionel marry another woman, Shari (Molly Ringwald), following the separation from Jeffrey's mother, Joyce (Penelope Ann Miller), whose own mental issues were depicted throughout the series.

On top of Jeffrey flunking high school, getting kicked out of the army, bouncing from various jobs and his volatile relationship with his religious grandmother, Catherine (Michael Learned), the show saw his descent into terror with an emphasis on some of his victims. Something that Dahmer was able to do due the shocking incompetence of the police force at the time a well as their lack of accountability following the fallout of Dahmer's crimes revealed.

This series made no bones about the fact that the majority of Jeffrey's victims were non white and along with Tracy Edwards, some of the victims largely emphasised throughout the series included Konerak Sinthasomphone (Kieran Tamondong), Steven Hick (Cameron Cowperthwaite), Ronald Flowers (Dyllon Burnside) and Tony Hughes (Rodney Burford). Most of these men died at the hands of Dahmer and the ones who survived him were deeply scarred by what Dahmer had done to them. 

While family members of Dahmer's victims have been critical of this series, I'll admit this series has at least tried to be respectful to them as well as depicting the fallout of Dahmer's actions, his trial, life in prison, finding God as well as his own brutal death at the hands of a fellow inmate. Not to mention the dark shadow that his reign of terror had left on everyone, including Dahmer's own family.

- Other killers who factored into this miniseries within context to Dahmer were Ed Gein (Shane Kerwin) and John Wayne Gacy (Dominic Burgess).Ryan Murphy has previously depicted versions of Dahmer and Gacy in American Horror Story: Hotel.

- In spite of the controversy surrounding  the show, it's become of Netflix's biggest hits in less than a month of its release.

- The end credits of the finale showed all seventeen victims of Dahmer. 

- The episode titles for the episodes are Bad Meat, Please Don't Go, Doin' A Dahmer, The Good Boy Box, Blood On Their Hands, Silenced, Cassandra, Lionel, The Bogeyman and God Of Forgiveness, God Of Vengeance.

- Standout music: The song Please Don't Go by KC And The Sunshine Band was used a lot in this series.

- Chronology: From 1959 up until 1994.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story made for an uncomfortable watch with a compelling set of performances from Evan Peters, Niecy Nash, Richard Jenkins and Rodney Burford to name a few here. Also given the success of the series, I wouldn't be shocked if another real life monster gets emphasized in a follow up show.

Rating: 9 out of 10