Netflix has established itself as an auspicious repository for dark, compelling narratives from crime thrillers to biographical crime drama anthologies, captivating viewers with stark depictions of real-world monsters. Jeffrey Dahmer's story ranks high among such crime dramas, which shattered records within and beyond the streamer, establishing an extremely high benchmark for true-crime television. All eyes are now on Monster Season 3: will Dahmer be back, or is the terror taking a different route?

Some notorious stories transcend the world and incite enough curiosity to find a fictional spotlight. 

Monster is indeed coming back later this year, but not with the infamous cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Netflix picked up Ryan Murphy's anthology for a third season, already offering a second season on the Menéndez brothers and now embarking on its third. Monster Season 3 shifts the anthology's attention to Ed Gein, also known as The Butcher of Plainfield, the notorious serial killer whose horrific legacy helped spawn films such as Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. The Dahmer story ended with Season 1, which attracted more than a billion viewers in two months, becoming one of Netflix's most-watched English-language shows.

Its vivid depiction of the real-world monster who dismembered over 17 young men attracted global curiosity, leading to a phenomenal season 2, which had a direct impact on the Menéndez brothers' trial. Though the show initially received criticism for the lack of participation from the families of Dahmer's victims, its immense success paved the way for two more seasons about killers who impacted society. Filming of the upcoming season took off in late 2024 and continued into early 2025, with the crew shooting in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.

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A story of true crime so intense, the entire world might be pushed to wonder what turned them into monsters.

Charlie Hunnam stars as Ed Gein, with Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, and Suzanna Son rounding out the cast. The show is set to dive deep into the mental illness of the monster, questioning what made him commit some of the most heinous crimes in history. Gein's notoriety began in the 1960s, when he was found guilty of killing women as well as exhuming corpses from local graveyards and hoarding keepsakes from their bones. The third season, working title Monster: Ed Gein – The Original Monster, will look past Gein's offenses to examine how his mental disorder and social isolation changed him into a warped character in a bloodbath. 

Netflix promises an October 2025 release of the third season of Monster, with a fourth season already planned. Though Jeffrey Dahmer will not be back, Monster Season 3 guarantees that the search for answers through darkness endures. With these indelible true crime stories turning into a rich anthology, Netflix doubles down on the formula for crime television that shocked, captivated, and polarized its viewership. Season 3's investigation into Ed Gein could be even more terrifying and more philosophically compelling, inviting viewers to face the question of how monsters are born from the darkest recesses of the human psyche and the terrors they inflict upon themselves.

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