Sarah Paulson looks almost unrecognizable in the first footage from Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. The actor plays Aileen Wuornos, not Lizzie Borden, in a later part of Netflix’s fourth season. Ella Beatty leads the season as Borden, the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her father and stepmother in 1892.
Paulson’s transformation is built around small details
The first trailer gives Paulson a jagged blonde haircut, thin eyebrows, and a flat expression that sharply changes her usual screen image. The Daily Beast’s report notes the resemblance to Wuornos and to Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning performance in the 2003 film Monster.
The styling identifies the role quickly, but it does not explain how much of Wuornos’s life or criminal case the show will cover. The available footage shows a performance choice, not the full shape of the story. That is especially important with a real case involving victims and a highly publicized execution: a wig and an expression can suggest a historical figure, but they cannot provide the context on their own.
Paulson is not playing Lizzie Borden
Netflix’s official listing keeps the season centered on Lizzie Borden. Beatty plays Borden, who was accused in the deaths of Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, then acquitted after a widely covered trial. Paulson appears as Wuornos in a later episode or parallel storyline, rather than as another version of Borden.
The distinction is clear in Netflix’s cast and series listing: Beatty is the lead for the Lizzie Borden story, while Paulson is one of the additional cast members. The available reports do not confirm that the two characters share a timeline, meet on screen, or appear in the same episode.
