Trailer for Ryan Murphy’s follow-up to controversial crime thriller Dahmer is here

The first trailer for Ryan Murphy’s follow-up to the controversial crime thriller Dahmer is here. The upcoming series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, tells the story of convicted murderers and brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez. 

Warning: Discussions of sexual, physical and emotional abuse claims.

When Murphy’s first season of the Monsters series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, was released in 2022 and starred Evan Peters as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, reception was divided.

Swathes of angry viewers accused Netflix of glamorising the murderer and expressed their objection to the streaming site tagging the programme under the “LGBTQ+” category. Families of Dahmer’s victims also slammed creator Ryan Murphy, despite the Emmy winner claiming he had contacted them beforehand.

However, the show went on to become the platform’s second-biggest English-speaking show ever at the time (and was later overtaken by Wednesday and Stranger Things). Now, the streaming site has released the teaser trailer for the upcoming follow-up series.

The teaser for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story sees the Menendez family posing for a family portrait as a smiling Kitty Menendez (Chloë Sevigny) says to her husband José Menendez (Javier Bardem), “I need to know what’s going on with you and the boys.”

Actors Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch, who play Lyle and Erik in the series, pose behind their parents in the portrait. “It is over. Stop. I’m going to fix this family,” José says before he and his wife leave the photoshoot. 

The trailer ends with the Mendenez brothers embracing before a gunshot goes off, leaving a blood spot on their cheeks. “It’s just us now,” says one of the brothers.

The synopsis for season two of the Monsters series reads: “While the prosecution argued they were seeking to inherit their family fortune, the brothers claimed — and remain adamant to this day, as they serve life sentences without the possibility of parole — that their actions stemmed out of fear from a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents. 

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”

What did the Menendez brothers do?

Lyle and Erik were found guilty of shooting their parents dead at their Beverly Hills home on 20 August 1989, with prosecutors claiming that the brothers were privileged, spoiled and eager to cash in on their $14 million inheritance from their entertainment executive father. 

However, the Menendez brothers claimed that their father José Menendez allegedly sexually, physically and emotionally abused them for years. They claimed their mother Kitty Menendez was addicted to drugs, alcohol, physically abusive, and José’s enabler. 

They were each convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is set to be released on Netflix on 19 September.