A New Spin on the Lizzie Borden Case
The latest season of Netflix’s true crime anthology MONSTER, this time subtitled The Story of Lizzie Borden, has become a hit. For the first time, the show focused on a woman, after previous seasons highlighted Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, and Ed Gein. Creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan chose a notoriously ambiguous case that’s perplexed people for more than 130 years. The big question still remains: Was Lizzie Borden really guilty?
Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home on August 4, 1892. Lizzie Borden was arrested and tried for the double homicide but acquitted in June 1893. Nobody else was convicted. To create an eight-episode drama, the writers had to fill in many gaps.
Fictional Liberties and a Relationship Reimagined
Ella Beatty plays a version of Lizzie who does commit the murders. Vicky Krieps portrays Bridget “Maggie” Sullivan, the Bordens’ maid, who in the series becomes both Lizzie’s lover and her accomplice. In real life, no evidence supports any romantic connection between them; that narrative appears only in works of fiction released long after the events, as in the 2018 film with Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart. Ian Brennan acknowledged at a press conference that exploring the known facts and then making creative choices guided the storytelling. On the matter of Lizzie’s guilt, Brennan was direct:
“I think she did it.”
Ella Beatty described her character as a “highly fictionalized version” of Lizzie, created from known facts and expanded by the writers.
The Arrival of Aileen Wuornos — What’s the Real Link?
The show extends beyond the Borden murders. Maggie tells Lizzie about Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman reputed for her crimes. Then, in episode four, the storyline jumps to 1988 and brings in Aileen Wuornos, played by Sarah Paulson.
There is no historical link between Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden. The real Aileen wasn’t known to be fascinated with Lizzie, and there’s no indication she ever set foot in the Borden residence. This connection is entirely a creation of the series. Murphy and Brennan explained that it fits their desired theme: linking Báthory, Borden, and Wuornos through the idea of “social repression” and women trapped in different types of “cages.” Ella Beatty also referred to a season-long exploration of “female anger.”
Still, the abrupt midseason shift to Aileen Wuornos' story left a lot of viewers puzzled. That’s where this intriguing fan theory comes into play.
The Aileen Wuornos Theory: Is She Seeing Lizzie's Story?
On X (formerly Twitter), a user wondered if, from the very beginning, the show is told from Aileen Wuornos’s perspective. The theory goes that we might be witnessing Lizzie Borden as imagined by Aileen—and that could explain why Lizzie is portrayed as both guilty and as having a lesbian relationship.
An X user posted:
“I was thinking back on the new season of Monster, but what if, from the very start, we’re actually in Aileen Wuornos’s head?? Is that why Lizzie Borden is shown as guilty, and as a lesbian?? Or was it obvious and I just missed it?”
When Aileen appears in the show, Lizzie is already a role model to her. She knows Lizzie’s story, relates to her situation, and even hallucinates Lizzie's presence. MONSTER shows Aileen staying in the Borden house with her partner.
The Lizzie depicted at the start—the one attracted to another woman, stifled by oppressive family and societal expectations, and pushed to violence—mirrors elements of Aileen’s life. This could explain the show's biggest creative choices: making Lizzie guilty and transforming Maggie into a lover. The series’ Lizzie might be a fantasy, the version Aileen invents from a century-old case, projecting her own trauma onto the legend. Even small details, like always-blooming cherry trees, fit a dreamlike, imagined world.
The idea builds on the show’s theme that stories are passed down and reshaped. Maggie tells Lizzie about Báthory. Lizzie’s story then becomes a kind of myth for Aileen. Each woman projects herself into the narrative.
However, the creators have not embraced this reading as an official explanation. Brennan has stated he believes Lizzie was indeed guilty and that the season was written from that starting point. The series never presents Aileen as a secret narrator structuring the whole story.
Still, interpreting the season this way makes Aileen’s appearance, her timing, and her central role more meaningful. She comes in midway, returns for the finale, and, in a sense, helps define the ongoing legend of Lizzie Borden.
When Aileen walks into the Borden house and someone says nobody really knows what happened, her reply hits differently in light of this interpretation:
“I know what really happened.”
