The famous double homicide case involving the Menendez brothers is weaving a tangled web with Ryan Murphy’s show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story bringing dialogue and debate into the circumstances surrounding the case. Murphy was quoted as saying, “I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did.” And it was recently announced that the brothers, who were first tried in the 90s, will be given another court hearing in light of new evidence. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón made the announcement, “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced.“
Variety now reports that Murphy, while isn’t interested in making a second season of Monsters, is willing to extend the series by an episode or two. He explains, “I think what I would be interested in doing, if Nicholas [Alexander Chavez] and Cooper [Koch] would agree to do it, is maybe one or two episodes that continue the story.” Now that a re-trial is being set, Murphy thinks the Menendez brothers may see the outside world again in 2025. He stated, “We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion. Basically, we did give them a platform. I think they can be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that.”
Ironically, even with the kind of support that Murphy has generated with his show, Erik Menendez was critical of him and his brother’s portrayal and came out against the series. Murphy’s response to that was a somber one, “The thing that’s kind of painful is that the family was so outrageously against the show and spoke out so vociferously against it. But then the thing that they thought would hurt them is actually helping them. That doesn’t feel so great.” Erik Menendez responded to the show by saying, “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant likes rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”