Charlie Hunnam reveals why he thought it was a 'horrible mistake' to take Ed Gein role in Netflix show

Charlie Hunnam has revealed how he took on the role of Ed Gein in Netflix latest Monsters series, following a two-hour dinner with director Ryan Murphy.

After agreeing to take on the controversial role, the Sons of Anarchy star confessed to having believed he had made a 'horrible mistake' in doing so.

Despite not being a fan of the horror genre, Murphy's pull was the only reason for taking on the portrayal of the grisly and heinous Wisconsin serial killer - albeit a suspected one with only two of the nine deaths Gein was believed to have carried out was ever confirmed before his death at 77, in 1984.

The six-time Primetime Emmy-winner had reached out to Hunnam with an opportunity for the Englishman to don the leading role of the next Monster series.

After a lengthy conversation over dinner, the 45-year-old admitted to Entertainment Weekly: "I just found myself saying yes. Based, I would say like 99 percent of it, on just how much I liked Ryan."

But soon after he had a sinking feeling that he couldn't shake.

"Once I said yes to this, I thought I'd made a horrible mistake," the actor explained.

"I started researching it, reading all the books about Ed Gein, and I fell into a full panic. I just thought there might be no coming back from this. This is so dark, to inhabit this character."

For those that don't know the full details of the wicked murderer and grave robber - you can find them here.

But fortunately for Hunnam, he managed to overcome that emotion.

Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein in 'Monster: The Ed Gein Story' (Netflix)

"There was sort of a breakthrough when I started reading the scripts and realizing that we were not going to be focusing on what he did and doing a deep dive on that, we're really gonna be focusing on why he did what he did and trying to find the human being behind the monster," he explained.

"There's like a human thread that connects all of this that you go like, right, that was a really bad avenue that you went down as a consequence or reaction to this thing that you experienced, but I understand what it was that you experienced and how that feels.

"And so it was sort of building on from that and just trying to make it human and honestly trying not to judge him, but being careful not to have too much empathy for him - it was a real tightrope to walk."

Although I would point out, it's difficult to have any empathy for a deranged killer who wore his victims faces as masks.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is out on Netflix now.