Monster: Lizzie Borden Story & Charlie Hunnam’s Disturbing Scene — How It Was Made

Monster has returned to streaming once again, this time to tell the story of Lizzie Borden (in fact the full title is Monster: The Story of Lizzie Borden). The fourth season of Netflix’s acclaimed anthology series comprises eight episodes available to stream from September 17, 2026, and it once again brings back to the cast Charlie Hunnam alongside Rebecca Hall and . Specifically, Hunnam spoke about behind-the-scenes details related to the second episode, focusing on a rather chilling scene. Warning: the following references events from Monster: The Story of Lizzie Borden, so anyone not up to date with the schedule should return to this article at a later time.

Monster: The Story of Lizzie Borden, Charlie Hunnam discusses the repulsive second-episode scene: how it was really made

Toward the end of the second episode devoted to Lizzie Borden’s story, Abby and Andrew Borden fall gravely ill after consuming spoiled oysters, and from that moment a harrowing sequence centered on vomiting unfolds. What might have been an accident was in fact a plan hatched by the daughter Lizzie and the housemaid Bridget, selecting out-of-season oysters to serve in the hopes of poisoning them.

Charlie Hunnam, in this instance, portrays the father, Andrew Borden, who, unfortunately, ingests the oysters and thus becomes the focal point of the vomiting scene—a moment that is difficult to handle even within fiction. The director Max Winkler spoke about the inspiration behind that moment: “I’ve always known I wanted to recreate an experience similar to what you feel at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, admiring the fountains. I wanted it to be accompanied by a symphonic experience by Andrea Bocelli. And I’d say coordinating all of that was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in my career.”

Also the research phase required quite a bit of stomach fortitude (pardon the pun) from Winkler, who spent several hours online reading about stage vomiting: “I did as much research as possible online and on YouTube, without ever having the opportunity to speak with anyone who had worked on it to understand how to render the scene as realistically as vomiting, a violently horrible experience.” Perfecting the scene also took time: “We did a dress rehearsal but without vomiting; everyone pretended there was. Then we moved on to the tubes, which required many tests to gauge the correct distance, what was too exaggerated, what was too small. Then we restarted with them eating and we used only that version.” The biggest challenge? Stopping Rebecca Hall from vomiting in real life! “I can’t stand gross things and I really hate vomiting. I have a sudden empathetic reaction and I start vomiting,” the actress admitted.

When, finally, she witnessed Charlie Hunnam’s performance, another concern arose: the laughter. “It was so funny and absurd, and it had nothing to do with actual vomiting, really. It turned out that my biggest challenge was maintaining seriousness when the camera was on me, because I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much.” Charlie Hunnam himself also feared that scene: “I would have had to handle a very, very awkward situation and, you know, I’m a bit germophobic. So, even though it was fake vomiting, being covered from head to toe in vomit and diarrhea all day didn’t seem like a particularly pleasant experience. And indeed it wasn’t.”