Sarah Paulson Embodies Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos in First Photos from Set of ‘Monster’

Sarah Paulson is hitting the streets of Los Angeles in character as Aileen Wuornos.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, Paulson was photographed for the first time portraying the late serial killer near the set of the fourth season of Netflix’s Monster anthology series.

In the images, the 51-year-old actress can be seen with red hair, wearing a maroon robe with grey sweatpants and carrying a to-go bag from a SusieCakes location in the L.A. area.

The bakery chain was founded in 2006, while the serial killer Paulson is portraying was executed in 2002, so it’s likely the images were just taken as Paulson was grabbing catering in between takes (and that the bag itself won’t make a cameo in any final cut).

Paulson was confirmed to be starring in the forthcoming season of Ryan Murphy‘s crime series within the last few weeks. The iteration will follow Wuornos, a woman who was convicted in Florida of six murders committed between 1989 and 1990 along a central Florida highway. She died by lethal injection on Oct. 9, 2002, and was suspected of a seventh killing, though the body of the alleged victim was never found.

Dubbed the “Damsel of Death,” the serial killer was also the subject of the 2025 Netflix documentary Aileen: Queen of Serial Killers and the 2003 Charlize Theron-starring film, also titled Monster.

Theron, now 50, won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2004 thanks to her performance in the film.

Paulson told Variety earlier this month that she was already researching Wuornos’ life and accepted Murphy’s invitation to star without having seen a script.

“I’m coming on to do a particular thing that I can’t talk about. But I’m always going to be interested in the why of human behavior,” she said. “If there’s any opportunity for me to get inside something that has been predetermined by society and have a little look at it through my own particular lens, I’m always going to want to do that. Ryan knows that.”

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She added, “I like having a blueprint and undeniable facts about a character that are not open for my interpretation, because I can sort of have more freedom inside of it. You would think it would be the opposite, but it sort of taught me that I like to immerse myself in another person’s experience, in the reality of it.”

The Netflix anthology series has previously covered Jeffrey Dahmer’s horrifying killing spree, the crimes of Erik and Lyle Menendez and, most recently, the story of serial killer Ed Gein. The first three seasons are currently available to view on the streamer.