Ryan Murphy’s true crime series is back and is tackling the Menendez brothers

Ryan Murphy has been building out his true crime Monsters universe on Netflix and now the second installment to the franchise is here with Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

If you grew up in the ’90s, you heard about the Menendez brothers. Lyle and Erik Menendez were responsible for the deaths of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. Their court case captivated the ’90s at a time when the 24-hour news cycle was just kicking into high gear and many around the United States wanted to see every single moment of the case.

This new season of Monsters is promising to show a different look at the case and give us insight into the brothers’ lives and actions. Or at least we hope this season of the show will focus less on reinforcing the salacious elements of the murders and the trial and more on those harmed in the process, especially with a case like this that is a lot more nuanced than something like 2022’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was.

While we know a lot about the case of the Menendez brothers, let’s talk about everything we know about this new show for Netflix.

What is it about?

The Menendez case is complicated. Many argued at the time that the brothers killed their parents to try to take the family’s fortune. Both Lyle and Erik Menendez claim that they killed their parents out of fear, stating lifelong abuse at the hands of José and Kitty Menendez as the reason. From what the synopsis for the show says, it seems like both sides of that story are going to be told.

“While the prosecution argued they were seeking to inherit their family fortune, the brothers claimed — and remain adamant to this day, as they serve life sentences without the possibility of parole — that their actions stemmed out of fear from a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”

Who is in it?

Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch are set to play the brothers, Lyle and Erik.  Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny are playing José and Kitty Menendez. Nathan Lane will be playing investigative journalist Dominick Dunne and Ari Graynor is criminal defense attorney Leslie Abramson. 

When will it air?

The new Netflix series is set to premiere on September 19.