Thirty-five years to the day since the gruesome murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez at the hands of their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez, Netflix on Tuesday officially announced that the second installment in the “Monster” anthology series, titled “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” will premiere Thursday, September 19 at 3:00 a.m. ET on the streaming service.
The series details the events leading up to and following the events of two brothers as they fatally shot their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989. While both were later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, during their trial, they cited years of abuse by their father as the reason for the murders.
“General Hospital” alum Nicholas Alexander Chavez (ex-Spencer Cassadine) stars in the series as Lyle with Cooper Koch playing Erik, and Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny playing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Nathan Lane appears as investigative journalist Dominick Dunne, who covered the trials for Vanity Fair. Ari Graynor takes on the role of Leslie Abramson, lead counsel for Erik Menendez.
“Days of our Lives” alum Tanner Stine (ex-Joey Johnson) also appears in the series as Perry Berman, while Leslie Grossman (“American Horror Story”) plays Judalon Smyth, a former patient and mistress of Erik Menendez’s therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel, who found herself entangled in the Menendez case — and who ultimately played a key role in Lyle and Erik’s arrests. Dallas Roberts will play Dr. Jerome Oziel, the self-protective and not-entirely-by-the-book therapist who Erik Menendez sees after the murder of his parents.
Jason Butler Harner will play Les Zoeller, the Beverly Hills PD detective in charge of the Menendez murders case, who is described as a to-the-point, logical man in search of the truth. Enrique Murciano will play Carlos Baralt, an Americanized Cuban immigrant, professor, and lawyer, who is the uncle of Lyle and Erik, and brother-in-law to Jose Menendez. He is also the executor of the Menendez will.
Additional cast includes 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; Larry Clarke as Brian Andersen; Jade Pettyjohn as Jamie Pisarcik; and Marlene Forte as Marta Cano.
Alexis Martin Woodall (“Dahmer”, “American Horror Story,” “Feud”), Eric Kovtun (“Dahmer,” “The Watcher,” “Ratched”), David McMillan (DAHMER), Louise Shore (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “American Crime Story”), and Carl Franklin (“Dahmer,” “Good Behavior”) serve as executive producers alongside series creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
Check out the official date announcement video below.