Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — release date, teaser, cast and everything we know about the Ryan Murphy series
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Ryan Murphy has another anthology on his hands at Netflix. After the success of Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Netflix gave the green light to two more seasons of Monster, in addition to another season of Murphy’s other big hit, The Watcher. The second season will be Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
In 1996, one of the most high profile trials involved two brothers who murdered their parents in 1989. At first, Lyle and Erik said they came home and found that someone killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, but eventually the truth came out. The young men, 21 and 18, said they feared for their lives and that the crime was self-defense. Eventually, the court found them guilty and sentenced them both to life in prison.
Dahmer quickly became the second most popular series for Netflix, topping both the Netflix and Nielsen ratings charts for weeks on end. It’s no wonder that Netflix was quick to offer the anthology two seasons.
Monster now officially become an anthology series that focuses on different notorious figures in society each season.
"Audiences can’t take their eyes off of Monster and The Watcher," Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV, said in a statement on Tudum. "The creative team of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan on Monster along with Eric Newman on The Watcher are masterful storytellers who captivated audiences all over the world. The back-to-back force of these two series is due to Ryan’s distinct original voice which created cultural sensations and we are thrilled to continue telling stories in the Monster and Watcher universes."
Here's what we know about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story release date
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is coming to Netflix on September 19.
As a Netflix original show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will only be available on the streaming platform. You can watch the first season, featuring Jeffrey Dahmer, on Netflix now. If you want to check out the current season you must be a Netflix subscriber.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story plot
The second season of Murphy's Monster series features the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, who infamously killed their parents in 1996. Both brothers claimed that they had been molested by their father, leading to the crime, but ultimately the jury found them guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The first season of Monster focused on the early life and the terrible crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. More importantly, though, the series put a spotlight on his victims.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story cast
Cooper Koch (Swallowed) has been tapped to play Erik Menendez and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (General Hospital) will play Lyle Menendez.
Here are the other actors rounding out the cast:
Javier Bardem as José Menendez
Chlo? Sevigny as Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez
Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne
Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson
Leslie Grossman as Judalon Smyth
Dallas Roberts as Dr. Jerome Oziel
Paul Adelstein as David Conn
Jason Butler Harner as Detective Les Zoeller
Enrique Murciano as Carlos Baralt
Michael Gladis as Tim Rutten
Drew Powell as Detective Tom Linehan
Charlie Hall as Craig Cignarelli
Gil Ozeri as Dr. William Vicary
Jeff Perry as Peter Hoffman
Tessa Auberjonois as Dr. Laurel Oziel
Tanner Stine as Perry Berman
Larry Clarke as Brian Andersen
Jade Pettyjohn as Jamie Pisarcik
Marlene Forte as Marta Cano.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story trailer
You can take a look at the first teaser for the series below:
Here's the teaser revealing the subject of the new season, the infamous story of the Menendez brothers who murdered their parents.