Charlie Hunnam Transforms Into Role of Serial Killer Ed Gein in New Photos

Charlie Hunnam is stepping into the role of serial killer Ed Gein for Netflix’s Monster, and new photos show just how creepy he looks. It was announced earlier this year that the Sons of Anarchy alum would be starring in the third season of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix anthology, subtitled The Original Monster, as the titular “Plainfield Ghoul.”

In new photos from set published by PEOPLE that you can see here, the actor is completely transformed into Gein, wearing a red plaid jacket, brown plaid shirt, and trousers, complete with a comb over hairstyle just like the murderer in the 1950s. According to Variety, Gein was found to have killed multiple people and dug up graves from a cemetery near his home, fashioning household items and clothing from human remains. His case has had a lasting effect on pop culture, serving as the inspiration for characters such as Psycho’s Norman Bates, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

This is the first look that fans have of Hunnam as Gein, but it might still be a while until an official first look from Netflix is released. The new season does not have a premiere date, and it’s only been a couple of months since the controversial Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story premiered, centering on the case of the Menendez brothers, played by Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, who murdered their parents in 1989.

Season 1 centered on Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters), who was from Wisconsin like Gein, and killed and dismembered nearly 20 males between 1978 and 1991. Despite the controversy Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story received, Netflix renewed the series for multiple seasons not long after its premiere in 2022. Alongside Hunnam, The Original Monster will also star Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander, and Olivia Williams.

Monster is not all that Charlie Hunnam is doing. According to his IMDb, he has four other projects in the works, including the upcoming Prime Video crime drama Criminal, set to release on Mar. 1. Emilia Clarke, Adria Arjona, Luke Evans, John Hawkes, and Richard Jenkins also star in the series, which is “an interlocking universe of crime stories” based on the graphic novels of the same name by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. He is a busy guy, and it will surely be exciting to see his highly-anticipated new projects. The first two seasons of Monster are streaming on Netflix.