Season 2 of Netflix series Monster will dramatise the ‘tragic’ crimes of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez – a decision which has already caused uproar.
The first series of Ryan Murphy’s true crime show focused on the chilling serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer – an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered 17 males between 1978 and 1991.
This time, the upcoming season will follow another controversial crime… That committed by siblings Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of the murders of their parents.
However, many people believe they were victims themselves. They claimed they acted in self-defence after years of abuse from their ‘paedophile’ father.
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Who are Lyle and Erik Menendez?
Brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, Cuban-born José, and his wife Mary Louise ‘Kitty’ Menendez.
On the evening of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty were murdered in their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyle and Erik shot José six times, including a fatal shot to the back of the head. They then shot mum Kitty 10 times in total.
The murders took the media by storm in the late ’80s and early ’90s due to a number of reasons. Firstly, Lyle and Erik Menendez were only 21 and 18 at the time their parents were killed.
Of course, few crimes are as sickening as killing your own parents. However, many believed the brothers were victims themselves. The young men eventually confessed to killing their parents.
Psychologist Jerome Oziel received a confession from Erik that he and his brother fatally shot their parents. However, during their high-profile trial, the brothers claimed to have killed their parents in self-defence after “a lifetime of abuse”.
They stated that they committed the murders out of fear that their father would kill them after they threatened to expose him for years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. However, the prosecution argued that they did it to inherit their father’s multimillion-dollar estate.
In 1990, Erik and Lyle Menendez were tried together and found guilty and sentenced to life without parole. They are currently in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Southern California. Lyle is now 55, and his little brother Erik is 52.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
Following the success of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022, Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series will return for another season.
Like other anthology series, Monster will follow a new true crime story each season. And the upcoming second series will focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez. The brothers were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents.
Netflix announced the new series via social media. The announcement featured the now infamous 911 call from 1989, where a sobbing Lyle tells the operator that his parents had been fatally shot.
A seemingly distraught voice is heard crying: “Somebody killed my parents.”
Netflix greenlit two more instalments of the Monster franchise in November 2022. Deadline revealed that each instalment of the series will “tell the stories of other monstrous figures who have impacted society”.
The streaming channel has not yet revealed who will be cast in the upcoming series.
When will Monsters series 2 start?
Season 2 of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series will stream sometime on Netflix in 2024.
Like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, each episode is expected to be one hour long in a 10 episode series.
Public reaction to the news of Monster season 2
Many Netflix fans have already blasted the channel for making Lyle and Erik Menendez the subject of Monster season 2.
When the streaming service announced the new series, they said: “From the creators of Monster comes the next chilling instalment of the anthology series. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
But the announcement was not well-received… One simply responded by saying: “They were victims.”
Another added: “They were brutally abused by the person who was supposed to protect them from people like he was.”
A third typed: “Why would you choose that case to recreate when Peacock just released the documentary exposing their father as a paedophile? Erik and Lyle were victims who felt they had no other choice… Dahmer was a monster for sure, and there are so many other serial killers they could’ve chosen for season two.”
“Monster parents, free the brothers!” said another, while one more wrote: “This is such a rotten move Netflix… For real? These boys’ lives were simply tragic and that they reached a breaking point after all this abuse doesn’t make them monsters. It makes them human.”
However, some agreed that the brothers acted as “monsters”. One wrote: “They still murdered two people.”
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will stream on Netflix in 2024.
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