The Ed Gein Story’ Set Was ‘Joyous’ (Exclusive)

While Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story may delve into some deeply dark territory, the atmosphere on set was surprisingly “joyous,” according to Charlie Hunnam, who plays the show’s titular character.

Hunnam spoke to PEOPLE exclusively during the show’s premiere at The Plaza Hotel in New York City on Sept. 30. During the conversation, the actor shared that he and his castmates found immense fulfillment in putting in the work each day and getting to perfect their “craft.”

“So there’s the subject matter and then there’s [the] actual process,” Hunnam, 45, explains. “And we all felt really good about the work we were doing. And so actually in terms of the experience we had of trying to make this show every day —  just the actual putting our craft into effect — it was actually really joyous and light.”

He adds, “We were proud of ourselves and we were reaching for something. And not every day, but more often than not, managing to grab a hold of it. So it was really actually — I don’t want to say a fun experience […] but it was very satisfying and a beautiful experience.”

Hunnam also said that “finding the truth” of the character was “the whole process.”

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“We were much more interested in why Ed did what he did, rather than exploring what he did. Everybody sort of knows what he did, and it’s been chronicled in many films that he inspired and then direct adaptation to his life. And so that was clearly the mission right from the beginning,” he says.

Hunnam continues, “And we, I think, felt confident that if we remain true to that, of just trying to find the truth in reflecting back this bizarre, tiny, dark corner of the human condition that he manifested that […] we were staying true to the traditions of storytelling — which is to try to help us understand ourselves because we’re all so bizarre, even the most normal of us.”

Gein’s crimes shocked and horrified the nation upon his arrest in 1957. A police search of his Wisconsin farm revealed a woman’s decapitated body in his shed and the head of another woman in his bedroom. Investigators also discovered human remains and organs in the home, many of which were collected from corpses exhumed from local graves. He also had clothing, furniture, a lampshade and masks made of human skin.

He subsequently served as the partial inspiration for a number of serial killers in pop culture, including Norman Bates in Psycho, Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story, marks the third installment of the Ryan Murphy-created anthology series. The previous two seasons explored the lives and dark legacies of Jeffrey Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is available to stream on Netflix.