Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menéndez Brothers for ‘Monster’ Season 2

Convicted murderers Erik and Lyle Menéndez will serve as the focal point of the forthcoming second season of Monster, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Netflix series that delved into the horrors of Jeffrey Dahmer in its award-winning first season. Fingers crossed we don’t have a repeat of the internet thirsting over killers this time around.

The announcement trailer for the new season sets the scene as “August 20, 1989” and “Beverly Hills, CA” flash across the screen before it fades to black. Once the chilling audio subsides, a 911 dispatcher answers a gut-wrenching call from a frantic Lyle Menéndez, informing them that someone had shot his mother and father: “Someone killed my parents!”

In 1996, brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted of the murders. Their parents, music executive José Menéndez and former beauty queen Kitty, were murdered at their family home in Beverly Hills by their own sons. The Monster anthology series’ latest set of episodes will explore the murders and subsequent convictions of the Menéndez brothers.

During the trial, defense attorney Leslie Abramson argued that Lyle and Erik had been sexually molested by their father for years, and their fear led to the murders. In the years since, former Menudo member Roy Rosselló has alleged that José Menéndez also raped him as a teenager. Murphy and Brennan have not indicated whether those allegations will be explored in the series; however, separate from Monsters, Netflix has announced that a forthcoming documentary feature will feature exclusive access to Lyle and Erik Menéndez themselves.

Following the premiere of Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story, Murphy and Brennan received backlash from the families of the killer’s victims, who claimed they had not been contacted about the series. Murphy refuted the allegations, saying no one responded to their requests during the three years they spent researching and creating the show that originally began as a limited series before being extended into a three-season anthology series.