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

Sarah Paulson has been spotted in Los Angeles while filming as Aileen Wuornos.

On Thursday, Dec. 18, the actress was photographed in character near the set of the fourth season of Netflix’s Monster anthology series. In the shots, the 51-year-old appears with red hair, dressed in a maroon robe and gray sweatpants, and carrying a to-go bag from a SusieCakes location in the area.

SusieCakes opened in 2006, while Wuornos was executed in 2002 — suggesting the bag was likely just a real-life pickup between takes rather than something meant for the show.

Paulson’s casting in the upcoming season of Ryan Murphy’s crime series was confirmed in recent weeks. The new installment will focus on Wuornos, who was convicted in Florida of six murders committed between 1989 and 1990 along a central Florida highway. She was executed by lethal injection on Oct. 9, 2002, and was also suspected in a seventh killing, though the alleged victim’s body was never found.

Often referred to as the “Damsel of Death,” Wuornos has been portrayed on screen before — most famously by Charlize Theron in the 2003 film Monster. Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2004 for her performance.

Paulson said in an interview with Variety earlier this month that she began researching Wuornos before seeing a script and agreed to join the project after Murphy approached her.

“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.”

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.”

Netflix’s Monster anthology has previously dramatized stories involving Jeffrey Dahmer, Erik and Lyle Menendez, and, most recently, Ed Gein. The first three seasons are currently available to stream.