During the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, the world struggled to make sense of why two young men with bright futures and affluent Los Angeles upbringings would end the lives of the people who raised them. Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story reexamines what went on behind closed doors in the seemingly picture-perfect household, and explores the allegedly emotionally fraught and abusive environment created by their parents, rendered by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny.  

Bardem says he found the anthology series to be a striking exploration of “the wounds of abuse through generations” and portraying the patriarch a compelling yet daunting task. “I was scared. . . . And it is the first TV show [I’ve done] in my life,” he adds. Sevigny found herself drawn to the role of Kitty, a woman battling her own demons as she turns a blind eye to the ones lurking in her family: “To bring some humanity and depth to that and reflect it back on the audiences, I thought it would be an amazing experience and it was.”