Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story — everything we know about the Ryan Murphy series

Evan Peters in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
Evan Peters in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Image credit: Courtesy of Netflix)

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

According to the first teaser, the new season is coming in 2024 but there's no date attached yet. As soon as we have a date, we'll update you. 

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. 

Murphy is a big fan of putting the same cast into new roles with his anthology series.  As more casting announcements are made, it’s more than likely that we’ll see alumni from across the Ryan Murphy universe showing up in the new season as well.  

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story trailer 

Here's the teaser revealing the subject of the new season, the infamous story of the Menendez brothers who murdered their parents. 

How to watch Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

As a Netflix original show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will 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. There’s now a Netflix with Ads option available for $6.99 per month along with more subscription options below: 

Sarabeth Pollock
Editorial Content Producer

 

Sarabeth joined the What to Watch team in May 2022. An avid TV and movie fan, her perennial favorites are The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, true crime documentaries on Netflix and anything from Passionflix. You’ve Got Mail, Ocean's Eleven and Signs are movies that she can watch all day long. She's also a huge baseball fan, and hockey is a new favorite.  


When she's not working, Sarabeth hosts the My Nights Are Booked Podcast and a blog dedicated to books and interviews with authors and actors. She also published her first novel, Once Upon an Interview, in 2022.