Charlie Hunnam's 'Monster' Journey: Inside the Horrifying Transformation, Plus His Thoughts About Leaving 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

British actor Charlie Hunnam is set to bring one of America's most notorious serial killers onscreen when Netflix drops Monster: The Ed Gein Story, turning himself into a bone-chilling nightmare.

In the series, Hunnam's titular character can be seen working on their family farm in silence, then goes on to peep on a neighbour before pleasuring himself in his mother's underwear.

Viewers will also be introduced to Gein's spine-tingling voice that is both terrifying and child-like, making the show as chilling as the events that transpired from the late 1940s to 1957.

Gein's Iconic Voice

Speaking with Variety, the 45-year-old actor said that his character's voice needed to be really specific, but he admitted that it was hard to imagine Gein's voice today.

Series co-director Max Winkler shared in the same interview that he initially imagined the sound of Gein's voice as a combination of Mark Rylance's thin and high-pitched tone in the award-winning play 'Jerusalem' and Michael Jackson's soft cadence. But Hunnam managed to get a rare audio from Joshua Kunau, documentary producer of Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein, featuring an interview of Gein.

'I started to see him through a series of affectations to please his mother,' Hunnam says. 'That's where the voice came from.'

He also shared with Tudum that the tapes, featuring one hour and 10 minutes of interview with Gein recorded two days after his arrest, became the blueprint of his portrayal. 'A lot of the musicality, and his inflection, and his choice of words, and where his energy sat, I was able to extract from it,' Hunnam said.

Cast's Teamwork

The Sons of Anarchy alum credited his castmates for helping him transform into the monstrous serial killer persona.

He mentioned that he and Laurie Metcalf made sure that the series would highlight the thorny dynamic between the mother-and-son duo.

'When we got the scripts, we would call each other, and talk about them a lot, and a really close, beautiful collaboration started to evolve,' he stated. 'I learned a lot from her, and I really value getting to work with her on this.'

On Stepping Away from 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Before being cast as a deranged serial killer, Hunnam was originally tapped to play Christian Grey in the film adaptation of the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. But he decided to step back before the cameras began to roll.

The actor blamed his hectic schedule during the final season of Sons of Anarchy and his loyalty to friends for leaving the film before production started. He shared that he had already given his word to his friend Guillermo del Toro about starring in his film Crimson Peak before getting the Fifty Shades offer.

'People were saying, "Are you crazy? Guillermo still has got four months to recast, it's the fourth lead, you can go and do this [instead],"' Charlie said of his decision to step back from the surefire blockbuster performance of Fifty Shades. 'I said, "I can't. He's my friend."'

The role eventually went to Jamie Dornan, with Dakota Johnson starring as Anastasia. Hunnam admitted in 2024 that he has yet to watch Fifty Shades of Grey.

When and Where to Watch Monster

All eight episodes of Monster: The Ed Gein Story will be available to stream on Netflix from 3 October 2025 at 8 a.m. BST.