Netflix is revisiting one of America’s most infamous true-crime cases with Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers, a new documentary that reexamines Aileen Wuornos’ life, crimes, and the enduring media fascination surrounding her case. Here’s what to know about the real story, how the filmmakers approached it, and when it premieres.
Who Was Aileen Wuornos & What Crimes Did She Commit?
Aileen Wuornos was convicted of murdering seven men across central Florida between 1989 and 1990, a shocking string of killings that dominated headlines and sparked a multi-state investigation. All of her victims were motorists between the ages of 40 and 65.
Following a difficult upbringing, Wuornos drifted into petty crime and prostitution. Over the course of one year, she killed seven men, robbed them, and stole their vehicles, according to Capital Punishment in Context. Investigators eventually linked the crimes, setting off a high-profile manhunt that culminated in her arrest in 1991.
Wuornos confessed to the murders but maintained that each killing was an act of self-defense. She alleged that the men had either raped her or attempted to rape her, according to Deadline. Her claims became a central part of the public conversation around the case, even as prosecutors presented a different narrative of calculated violence and robbery.
In 1992, Wuornos was sentenced to death for six of the murders. She remained on Florida’s death row for a decade and was executed in 2002. The case’s mix of brutal facts, contested motives, and extensive media coverage cemented its place in true-crime history.
Wuornos’ story has been depicted on screen before. Most notably, Charlize Theron portrayed her in the 2003 film Monster, charting Wuornos’ trajectory from her first killing to her execution. Theron’s performance won the Academy Award for Best Actress, further entrenching the case in pop culture while also inviting debate about representation, motive, and context.
Inside Netflix’s Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers
Directed by Emily Turner, Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers takes a fresh look at the woman at the center of the case nearly four decades after the murders, according to Netflix’s Tudum. Rather than retelling the story solely through archival headlines, the film assembles voices from Wuornos’ orbit and the journalists who covered her, aiming to provide a fuller portrait of both the person and the spectacle that formed around her.
The documentary features newly surfaced audio interviews with people who personally knew Wuornos, offering firsthand accounts that go beyond court transcripts and news clips. These testimonies, combined with investigative materials, help contextualize how the narrative around Wuornos was shaped in real time.
Viewers will also see archival reporting by former Dateline correspondent Michele Gillen, whose coverage of the case tracked developments as they unfolded. Gillen’s footage helps anchor the documentary in the media environment of the early 1990s, when Wuornos’ trials and appeals were closely followed on national television.
Crucially, Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers incorporates Wuornos’ own voice through interviews recorded while she was in prison. Hearing her describe her experiences and motives—alongside the countervailing evidence and testimonies—allows the film to explore the complexity of her self-defense claims without losing sight of the victims and the legal outcomes.
The production comes from the BBC Studios Documentary Unit in collaboration with NBC News Studios, a partnership that underscores the project’s emphasis on rigorous reporting and extensive archival access.
Why This Case Still Resonates
True-crime stories often endure because they reveal as much about the systems and media that examine them as they do about the crimes themselves. Wuornos’ case—involving sex work, violence against women, and the contested space between survival and predation—continues to prompt difficult questions about how the justice system, the press, and audiences process narratives of guilt, trauma, and agency.
At the same time, the cultural afterlife of Wuornos’ story, from coverage to Hollywood dramatization, has influenced how the public perceives her. Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers enters that conversation with the benefit of time, newly accessible materials, and the opportunity to weigh competing accounts side by side.
Release Date: When & Where To Watch
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers premieres on Netflix on Thursday, October 30. The streaming release brings the case back into the spotlight, inviting both newcomers and those familiar with Monster to compare dramatization with documentary, and to reassess what has been accepted as the “definitive” version of events.
With its blend of archival reporting, personal audio, and Wuornos’ own prison interviews, the film aims to deliver a clear-eyed, comprehensive recounting of a case that still grips public attention—and to foreground the lives irrevocably altered by it.
