Here Are Some Possible Candidates for Monster Season 3

Ryan Murphy has solidified himself as someone who is obviously fascinated by the darker side of life. Despite the fact that fans of American Horror Story can’t seem to get on board with every season, its foray into the macabre keeps viewers coming back for more glimpses of humanity’s ghastly side. It makes sense that Murphy would also tackle true crime, as the Venn diagram of horror fans and that genre is essentially a circle.

His American Crime Story series covered the O.J. Simpson trial, the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace, and the Clinton impeachment. Then in September 2022, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story landed with a loud thud on Netflix. The fictionalized version of the infamous serial killer swallowed social media whole. A second season about the Menendez brothers is slated to be released sometime in 2024, and a third season has already been greenlit. Let’s dig into who could show up in Season 3.

Ted Bundy has definitely been done to death, forgive the pun, but that doesn’t mean Ryan Murphy won’t have something new to bring to this well-trodden table. He always finds an interesting angle, such as focusing on Dahmer’s neighbor beautifully played by Niecy Nash in Monster. If Season 3 decided to take a crack at Bundy, I think a refreshing take could be from the point of view of Ann Rule, the true crime author who famously worked with Bundy at a suicide prevention call center.

How could you not tell the story of the woman who would later be known as the Giggling Granny serial killer? Nancy “Nannie” Doss would also be called Lady Bluebeard and the Lonely Hearts Killer. In 1955 she was arrested for the murder of her latest husband but would go on to confess to killing four more husbands. However, authorities think that she could have killed as many as 12 people including but not limited to her grandson and granddaughter, her own mother, one mother-in-law, as well as two kids and her sister.

In 1924, America was captivated by the trial of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy teenagers who killed a 14-year-old boy. According to PBS, Loeb was obsessed with committing the “perfect crime” and Leopold was the lovesick sidekick who would do anything to please his friend. Their attorney was Clarance Darrow who artfully argued his clients out of the death sentence. It was a spectacle made for television.

We already know Ryan has a fascination with this unsolved murder because Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, showed up in Season 1 of American Horror Story. Played by Mena Suvari, her story arc posited a theory about Short being sexually assaulted by her dentist which resulted in her overdosing. In reality, her mutilated body was discovered on Jan. 15, 1947, on a sidewalk in Los Angeles. To this day, no one knows what happened.