Ryan Murphy isn’t planning a Season 2 of Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” but that doesn’t mean he’s completely done with the story.
With news today that a court hearing has been set for Erik and Lyle Menendez as Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón considers new evidence that they were allegedly molested by their father, Murphy may consider extending the season.
“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,” Murphy told me Thursday afternoon.
Chavez and Koch star as Lyle and Erik, respectively, in the show, which chronicles the brothers’ conviction and sentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.
The new hearing could eventually lead to a retrial or resentencing of Erik and Lyle, but Gascón said there has been no decision made yet.
Shortly after Gascón announced he was looking at the new evidence, Kim Kardashian published an essay demanding Erik and Lyle be released from prison. Kardashian and Koch visited the siblings in prison in San Diego in September.
Murphy, who co-created “Monsters” with Ian Brennan, first showed Kardashian the show about a month before it premiered on Netflix. “She knew a lot about the case, and she grew up with it,” Murphy said. “But she didn’t know about a lot of the sexual abuse and she immediately became very interested in helping them. So many people are now interested in the case and it speaks to me about the power of television and what it can do. It can shine a spotlight on something and it can illuminate dark corners.”
When I first spoke to Murphy about “Monsters” last week, he said he wasn’t looking to become an advocate for the brothers. “I believe in justice, but I don’t believe in being a part of that machine,” Murphy said at the time. “That’s not my job. My job as an artist was to tell a perspective in a particular story. I feel I’ve done that, but I wish them well.”
Today, he has become an unexpected advocate due to the show’s popularity and the influence it may have had on Gascón’s decision. “We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion. Basically, we did give them a platform,” Murphy said. “I think they can be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that.”
The series didn’t come without its critics. Erik released a statement through his wife slamming Murphy, as did several members of his family. “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,” said Murphy. “That doesn’t feel so great.”
Murphy recently announced that “Monsters” Season 3 will star Charlie Hunnam as the 1950s serial killer Ed Gein. He’s considering more contemporary stories for Season 4. “It’s dangerous, yet exhilarating, to tackle things that are current,” said Murphy. “As I told you earlier, I was never interested in the Menendez brothers. What I was interested in was the sexual abuse angle. That was always the thing that I was obsessed with. The fact that it’s obviously resonated with people, and people think that those facts should have been admissible in that second trial, is fascinating to me.”
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