Sarah Paulson portrays Aileen Wuornos in new Ryan Murphy series

Actress Sarah Paulson is portraying Aileen Wuornos in Ryan Murphy’s new series, ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’. The show’s creators included Wuornos to examine how societal perceptions of female violence have evolved since the 19th century.

Wuornos was a notorious criminal who confessed to killing seven men along Florida highways between 1989 and 1990, claiming self-defense. She was executed by the state of Florida in 2002. Paulson’s portrayal has sparked online comparisons to Charlize Theron, who also played the criminal in a previous production.