Hollywood Casting Buzz 2025: Lizzie Borden, Jingle Bells, and Murderous Maids

Casting news is exploding faster than a Real Housewives feud, and this week’s announcements are serving drama, romance, and a healthy side of holiday cheese. From Ryan Murphy’s newest Monster muse to Jordin Sparks sleuthing around small-town secrets, let’s break down the hottest casting tidbits lighting up your screen soon.

Lizzie Borden Swings Into Netflix’s Monster Season 4 CASTING

Get ready to clutch your pearls and check your axes. Ryan Murphy has officially chosen Ella Beatty to lead the next season of Netflix’s Monster anthology, this time focusing on none other than alleged axe murderer Lizzie Borden. Beatty, fresh off her role as Kerry O’Shea in FEUD: Capote vs. the Swans, is the real-life daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening and apparently inheriting more than just a legendary Hollywood pedigree.

She’ll star alongside the ever-underrated Rebecca Hall, who is set to play Lizzie’s ill-fated stepmother Abby. Vicky Krieps, who made her own Monster debut in Season 3, returns as the family’s maid, Bridget Sullivan. Let the bloody reenactments and period costume drama commence.

Ed Gein Gets His Close-Up First

Before Ella takes her murderous turn, Monster Season 3 will drop this October, with Charlie Hunnam playing infamous killer Ed Gein. Yes, that Ed Gein, whose crimes inspired everything from Psycho to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If you like your true crime with a generous splash of A-list casting and stylish gloom, you won’t want to miss this one.

Jingle Bells and Wedding Bells on Roku

Switching gears from serial killers to sequins, Joey McIntyre and Michelle Morgan are returning for a sequel to last year’s surprise holiday hit Jingle Bell Love. In the creatively titled Jingle Bell Wedding, their characters Jack and Jessica are planning a New Year’s Eve wedding, only to be sideswiped by a career opportunity so big it threatens their tinsel-covered happily ever after.

And because no holiday season is complete without a feel-good mystery, American Idol alum Jordin Sparks is starring in Merry Little Mystery, where she plays a benevolent Secret Santa whose identity is in danger of being exposed by a nosy reporter, played by Keon Alexander of The Night Agent fame. Love, snow, and holiday anonymity? Sign us up.

Heartland Meets Hallmark in Homes for the Holidays

Over on Great American Family, Cindy Busby and Sam Page are teaming up for Homes for the Holidays, a warm and fuzzy romance set in the fictional small town of Evergreen Falls. Busby plays Grace, a big-city realtor who returns home and inevitably finds herself in a meet-cute with a local photographer, because obviously. It’s part of the fifth anniversary celebration of the Great American Christmas programming extravaganza, which drops this October. Mark your calendars and prepare for wall-to-wall flannel.

From real-life murderesses to Secret Santa rom-coms, the latest casting announcements are giving us everything we need heading into fall. Ryan Murphy continues to dominate the true crime arena with big names and even bigger storylines, while streamers like Roku and Great American Family are doing what they do best: delivering holiday romance with a side of career chaos and small-town charm.

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