Star of Menendez Brothers Series, Nicholas Chavez, Says He Feels for the Real-Life Lyle and Erik

After the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix, one of the series’s stars, Nicholas Chavez, is thinking about the real-life Menendez brothers, who inspired the Ryan Murphy show.

“I really sympathize with the brothers,” Chavez, who plays Lyle Menendez, told People. “The fact that this was the most traumatic moment of their life, and then having that put on television for the world to see. I would imagine that would be incredibly heavy.” While Chavez said he didn’t speak with Lyle Menendez while preparing for the role, his costar, Cooper Koch, has now visited the brothers in prison.

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of killing their parents in 1989, alleging years of mental, physical, and sexual abuse. The show dramatizes the high-profile murders and the trial that followed, but Erik has criticized the series’s portrayal of events. “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” he wrote in a Facebook post on September 20. “I can only believe they were done so on purpose.”

Los Angeles Times

Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, shared her own reactions to Monsters on X, writing, “The Menendez drama on Netflix is a complete train wreck! The portrayal of the events is so exaggerated and untrue, it feels more like a dark soap opera than a drama. They really missed the mark on the facts!”

The Menendez brothers are both currently incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in California.