Charlie Hunnam under fire after branding serial killer ‘a gentle monster’ ahead of new Netflix series

Charlie Hunnam has come under fire after describing serial killer Ed Gein as ‘gentle’ ahead of his upcoming Netflix series.

The 45-year-old is set to portray the brutal murderer in the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series – the first trailer was released today ahead of the premiere on October 3.

This is the third in Murphy’s franchise exploring the lives of ‘monstrous’ figures, following Evan Peters’ efforts as Jeffrey Dahmer in 2022, and The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story last year, starring Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as the brothers who murdered their parents.

Gein, also known as ‘the Butcher of Plainfield’, spread terror in the 50s when he went on a killing spree – authorities later discovered that he had exhumed corpses from local graves and used their skin and bones to craft keepsakes and household items.

Hunnam shed light on Monster while on the red carpet at the Emmys on Sunday night, and how he prepared for such a tough role.

When asked how he recovered after filming, and whether the role gave him ‘nightmares’, the Sons of Anarchy star told Variety: ‘I would go home and just prepare for the next day. It was all Monster all the time until we finished. I had a lot of work to do.

‘I had the nightmares before I started. Once I got into it, it was a little easier.

‘But I, for a second, thought maybe I’d made a horrible mistake when I started doing my research and realizing just how despicable some of the stuff he did was.

‘We tell a very varied version, an all-encompassing version of who he was. The gruesomeness, but there’s also a little bit of, I don’t want to say tenderness, but you see the human in there.

Questioned on how ‘gruesome’ the show gets, considering Gein’s vicious crimes, Hunnam added: ‘He’s one of the more gentle monsters.

‘Monstrous no doubt, but he has his gentle side to him.’

Fans were left shocked over the notorious serial killer being described as ‘gentle’, and quickly flocked to social media to call out Hunnam’s remarks.

Reddit user Jenny_MTF42 fumed: ‘Ed Gein was so disgusting and monstrous that three seperate famous horror villains were based on him: Norman Bates, Leatherface, and Buffalo Bill.’

‘Give me a break. Gein was one of the worst of the worst. Some celebrities would be better off not talking,’ StaceyJeans urged.

‘Actors need to say their lines and that’s it. Nothing else, please don’t talk otherwise,’ Invis2020 agreed.

MontanaDukes commented: ‘Oh, I’d haunt his ass forever if I was a family member of one of the victims or an actual victim.’

As Kidgorgeoushere added: ‘Cmon Charlie, you can’t be “gentle” if you make a lampshade out of human skin.’

Gein gained notoriety in the 50s over his gruesome crimes – in 1957, he murdered Bernice Worden, who had been shot, decapitated and hung upside down and left in a shed on Gein’s property.

Authorities searched his home in connection with her murder, and discovered whole human bones and fragments, a wastebasket made of human skin, bowls made from human skulls and more skulls on his bedposts.

He later confessed to making around 40 visits to local graveyards between 1947 and 1952, and exhuming recently buried bodies for his paraphernalia.

Gein also admitted to shooting Mary Hogan after her head was found in his house, but denied having any memory of details of her death.

He eventually pleaded not guilty to murder charges on grounds of insanity, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and found mentally incompetent.

The killer avoided jail and was instead sent to a hospital for the ‘criminally insane’ before his death in 1984, aged 77.

In a grim snippet from the new trailer for Monster, Hunnam could be seen dancing while wearing a mask made of human skin and getting uncomfortably close to a dead body.

‘Serial killer. Grave robber. Psycho. In the frozen fields of 1950s rural Wisconsin, a friendly, mild-mannered recluse named Eddie Gein lived quietly on a decaying farm – hiding a house of horrors so gruesome it would redefine the American nightmare,’ the official synopsis reads.

‘Driven by isolation, psychosis, and an all-consuming obsession with his mother, Gein’s perverse crimes birthed a new kind of monster that would haunt Hollywood for decades.

‘From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant. Ed Gein didn’t just influence a genre — he became the blueprint for modern horror.’

Metro has contacted Hunnam’s reps for a comment.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story will premiere on Netflix on October 3.

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