Charlie Hunnam has defended his portrayal of serial killer Ed Gein in Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story, as the series faces criticism for romanticising the murderer. The drama, created by Ryan Murphy, is the latest in his Monster anthology and has sparked debate among viewers.
One viewer wrote on X: 'Loved the series but the ending threw me off. Ryan Murphy always do that... how are you giving your flowers to a serial killer?' Despite divided reviews—a 20 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and 54 percent from audiences—the show topped Netflix's UK charts with 12.2 million views in its first three days.
In an interview before the series' release, Hunnam told the Hollywood Reporter: 'If people are compelled to talk about it and think about it, hopefully they’ll actually be compelled to watch the show. What I would hope and feel really confident in is that it was a very sincere exploration of the human condition and why this boy did what he did.'
Set in 1950s Wisconsin, the series follows Gein after he murdered his brother and his mother's death. Gein killed two women, is suspected of seven more murders, and exhumed graves to wear human skin. Hunnam insisted: 'I never felt like we were sensationalising it. I never felt on set that we did anything gratuitous or for shock impact. It was all in order to try to tell this story as honestly as we could.'
Co-creator Ian Brennan added: 'This show is always trying to not be exploitative. It’s trying to actually show that you can pull back too much when you’re telling a macabre story. It’s important that you tell the whole story even with the parts that are hard to watch.' Co-star Suzanna Son, who plays Gein's love interest, highlighted the lack of mental health institutions in 1950s America, saying she is 'angry' that Gein's schizophrenia went undiagnosed.
