Lyle and Erik Menéndez‘s possible resentencing could mean more episodes of Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters series — despite the controversy.
The Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced on Thursday, October 4, that a new hearing has been set amid new evidence into Lyle and Erik’s murder case. Murphy, 58, was subsequently asked whether Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, potentially being released from prison would inspire him to film more content for his scripted show.
“I think what I would be interested in doing, if Nicholas [Chavez] and Cooper [Koch] would agree to do it, is maybe one or two episodes that continue the story,” he told Variety on Thursday.
Murphy went on to question the backlash against the show when it played a part in the Menéndez case receiving renewed public support.
“We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion. Basically, we did give them a platform,” he continued. “I think they can be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that.”
Season 2 of the hit Netflix series debuted in September and chronicled Lyle (Chavez) and Erik’s (Koch) 1989 arrest for the murder of their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny). Taking inspiration from footage of the trial and subsequent interviews, Monsters mirrored key moments from Lyle and Erik’s lives before and after they were sentenced to life without parole for shooting their mother and father.
Episodes 4 and 5 received critical and fan praise for introducing Erik and Lyle’s claims that they killed their parents in self-defense following years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Similar to season 1 of Monster — which was centered around Evan Peters‘ portrayal of Jeffrey Dahmer — the show came under fire for several inaccuracies about the Menéndez brothers, including the insinuation that they were in a sexual relationship.
Erik released a statement slamming Murphy’s production one day after it was released.
“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,” read a statement from Erik that was shared via Lyle’s Facebook page. “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.”
Erik expressed frustration with how his and Lyle’s perspectives were portrayed, adding, “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”
He continued: “Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander. Is the truth not enough?”
Murphy, however, has stood by the vision that came together on screen after plenty of research.
“The family’s response is predictable at best. I find it interesting because I would like specifics about what they think is shocking or not shocking,” he told Variety last month. “It’s not like we’re making any of this stuff up. It’s all been presented before. What we’re doing is we’re the first to present it in one contained ecosystem. What’s grotesque about it?”
The executive producer made it clear he has “no interest” in speaking with Erik or Lyle. He also explained why he wasn’t calling for them to be released from prison.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say they should be freed, but I think that their case should be reexamined, and I think new evidence should be presented,” Murphy told People last month. “If that case was tried and all of the evidence was allowed in today, I think they probably would’ve been charged and found guilty of manslaughter and they would be out of jail now.”
Monsters is currently streaming on Netflix.
