Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the upcoming fourth installment in Ryan Murphy's critically acclaimed anthology crime series, seems to be taking a different approach.While the Monster anthology has built its reputation by revisiting some of history's most notorious crimes through a dramatic and often unsettling lens, co-creator Ian Brennan and the cast revealed that the upcoming chapter embraces a darkly comic tilt, set in the Victorian era.Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the first season to feature a female murderess, is based on Lizzie Andrew Borden (played by Ella Beatty), a Sunday school teacher in Fall River, Massachusetts, who was accused of murdering her 69-year-old father Andrew Borden (played by Charlie Hunnam) and 64-year-old stepmother, Abby Borden (portrayed by Rebecca Hall), with an axe inside their family home in 1892.While Lizzie's crimes were never proven and she was acquitted, her trial remains a popular topic in pop culture, leading to many adaptations in books, movies and shows.In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Brennan and the show's cast explored the darkly comical undertones of the series, stemming from societal restrictions and customs of the time.More on this in our story.How was Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story brought to life? View this post on Instagram Instagram PostNetflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will shift gears through a darkly comic tilt, venturing into a never-before-explored territory in Murphy's critically acclaimed series. As the series' co-creator and cast revealed, the Victorian-era setting, eccentric family dynamics and larger-than-life personalities naturally lent themselves to moments of dark comedy without diminishing the tragedy at the heart of the story.For co-creator Ian Brennan, the heart of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story did not lie in the infamous alleged killings of its titular murderess but the social customs, rigid etiquette and deeply dysfunctional relationships which eventually led to her acquittal.Despite no suspects in the Borden axe murders, Lizzie Borden walked free after an all-white male jury unanimously acquitted her of the crimes, after deliberating for just over an hour (or in some accounts, just after 40 minutes), simply because she was a woman and highly incapable of carrying out the brutal double murders.As Ian Brennan discussed in his interview with Vanity Fair, Lizzie Borden was likely acquitted due to one bizarre idea: she was a 32-year-old spinster Victorian woman:“They literally thought that a woman was too weak to pick up an axe. To be a woman in that period was to be almost a completely different species. You were treated like you were incapable of not only actions, but thoughts that a man was capable of.''Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will explore these problematic views about women in the Victorian era and how they likely paved the way for Lizzie's freedom, who allegedly told reporters she was "the happiest woman in the world," upon exiting the courthouse after her acquittal.Brennan leaned into Lizzie Borden's complicated relationship with her father, her strained dynamic with her stepmother and the suffocating expectations placed upon unmarried women of the era, moments that are simultaneously uncomfortable and strangely funny.Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story- A feminist interpretationRebecca Hall has dubbed the upcoming season of Monster as Ryan Murphy's version of Cinderella, which means Ella Beatty's titular heroine needed her fairy godmother, a role filled by actress Vicky Krieps, who plays the Bordens’ live-in maid, Bridget Sullivan, in The Lizzie Borden Story.While the details behind the infamous killings remain a mystery, Brennan took inspiration from Ed McBain's 1984 novel Lizzie, which explored a bold romantic plot between Lizzie and her free-thinking maid. Brennan and the cast expand McBain's theory in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, making Bridget the perfect partner-in-crime for Lizzie, who comes bearing a dangerous escape plan: a double homicide.Bridget and Lizzie's budding romance gives the perfect feminist edge to Monster Season 4, echoed in Krieps' words:'‘It’s women-driven, feminist, lesbian, dirty, unapologetic.’'While Brennan was tight-lipped about the actual nature of their relationship, he teased that Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will certainly explore the idea, previously ignored due to an ethical and moral duty.Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story will debut on Netflix on September 17.For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.