The Netflix limited series Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story has been nominated for four Emmy Awards for the 2025 Emmys, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced on Tuesday morning.
Ryan Murphy’s controversial nine-episode series, looking at the wealthy brothers who in 1989 gunned down and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home and were later imprisoned for life without parole, was nominated for outstanding limited or anthology series. Cooper Koch, who portrayed the younger brother Lyle Menendez and previously received a Golden Globe nomination for his breakthrough performance, was nominated for outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie. Javier Bardem was nominated for supporting actor and Chloe Sevigny was nominated for supporting actress.
The nominations come weeks after the Menendez brothers cleared a major legal hurdle to regain their freedom; they also reflect the influence the show ultimately had on both the public and California lawmakers in buoying the movement for the reconsideration of their legal case.
Responding to a resentencing petition in May, a judge reduced Erik and Lyle Menendez’s sentences to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole. They will next appear before the California Parole Board in August.
This reversal of the brothers’ fate came nine months after the premiere of Monsters (which was followed by an unrelated documentary on the brothers, also released on Netflix, weeks later). Both led to an uptick in interest and public pressure surrounding their case; in October, as their story regained major attention, Los Angeles’s outgoing district attorney wrote a letter to a local judge, asking him to look into the sentencing for the 1989 murders.
Before all of this was set in motion, the brothers had filed a habeas corpus petition based on new evidence that emerged in 2023, which backed up their claims of abuse at the hands of their father. This included an unearthed letter written by a teenage Erik to his late cousin, penned before the murders and which discussed Jose Menendez’s ongoing abuse. Meanwhile, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo came forward as a victim of Jose Menendez, then a powerful RCA Records executive. The new district attorney fought back against these claims, but their habeas petition is still working its way through the courts. On July 7, an order by L.A. County Superior Court Judge William Ryan demanded that D.A. Nathan Hochman explained to the court why his office rejected the new evidence. He has 30 days to explain why he believes it does not merit a new trial for the brothers.
This was not the only avenue available to the brothers, and their attorney soon filed the resentencing petition based on what the former D.A. has set in motion, arguing that the brothers have been rehabilitated over their 30-plus years behind bars, where they have, by all accounts, been model inmates and mentors to other prisoners. In May, flying in the face of Hochman’s wishes, a local judge ruled to reduce Erik and Lyle’s sentences to 50 years to life.
The co-creator of Monsters, star producer Ryan Murphy, spoke about the then-growing movement to free the Menendez brothers and the series’ intent back in November.
“I can’t say I was unsurprised, because when we finished shooting it and I saw the episodes, I thought they were incredibly powerful from several different points of view,” Murphy explained while speaking at a Netflix panel for the series in Los Angeles. “That was always the purpose of the show, to show different complicated points of view, but I thought really what it did about raising and asking questions about sexual abuse was very, very powerful.”
The series, which features abrupt swings in tone, shows a kaleidoscope of perspectives on the 1989 crime, its aftermath, and the multiple trials that followed. This didn’t play well with all viewers and controversy immediately emerged when the family of the Menendez brothers denounced Murphy’s portrayal of their relationship, particularly the brief suggestions that there was an element of incest between them. A war of words erupted in the press and with public statements from the family and the brothers from prison. Over the months since its release, that tiff has settled as the focus shifted toward hope for their release after three decades in prison.
At the Netflix panel, Murphy summed up his intent in resurfacing the Menendez story with Monsters and re-framing their narrative around the trauma they endured.
“Love it or not, there’s a movement with young people who want to talk about that in a way that wasn’t available in 1989,” he said, “So whether you believe them or not is kind of beside the point. What it did, I think, which is why I wanted to make it, was launch a conversation about that topic. And people were really drawn to it, and a lot of people got involved and made their opinions known after they watched the show, which was very, very interesting.”
The 77th Emmy Awards will be hosted by Nate Bargatze and broadcast live Sunday, Sept. 14, (8-11 p.m. ET/5-8 p.m. PT) on the CBS Television Network and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.