Ryan Murphy's 'Monster' Series Gets New Subject for Season 2

By Stephen Andrew

Ryan Murphy's Monster series is getting not one, but two new subjects for Season 2. Deadline reports that the next season of the Netflix series will follow the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez. The two brothers went on trial in 1996 for the murders of their parents, who they had accused of longtime abuse. The two were initially tried separately, with both cases ending in mistrials. They were eventually tried together, with that case ending in murder convictions. Both men were sentenced to life without parole. They remain incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Southern California.

The subject of Monster Season 1 was cannibal serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, as portrayed by Evan Peters. The show also starred two-time Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, as Dahmer's father, and Reno 911's Niecy Nash. The actress played Glenda Cleveland, a woman who from Milwaukee who reported Dahmer to authorities many months before his arrest in July 1991. After being apprehended by police, Dahmer was convicted and sentenced to 16 lifetimes behind bars. He was later murdered by another inmate while in prison.

The show has been quite controversial, with even famed psychologist and TV host Dr. Phil McGraw speaking out about the depiction of Dahmer in an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com. "People were very upset about this, and I've got a real interest in, and have spoken and studied about evil, which kind of goes beyond diagnoses. It goes beyond pathology," he told us while promoting a three-part special about the true story behind Dahmer's crimes. "And we talked to some people that were very upset about the Netflix series because they said this doesn't depict what really went on. It kind of romanticizes. Doesn't try to excuse, but contextualizes Jeffrey Dahmer in an empathetic sort of way."

Many criticisms of the Netflix series stem from the fact that it is not a fictional story. The grisly murders that are depicted really happened, and people really died. Noting this, McGraw offered, "I think that was the value in talking to these people who said, 'Look, there's no soundtrack in real life. There's no dramatic music. There's only pain and loss and torture.' And you can't imagine the ripple effect of these people that lost their lives, these people that were impacted by him."

While the number of deaths attributed to Dahmer is 17, McGraw thinks "it's much bigger" than that.

"In Texas, we say for every rat you see, there's 50 you don't. These are the ones that they know about," he said. "These two men I talked to encountered him in the military in Germany. They feel like he committed murders in Germany that were never brought to light. And I think people look at someone that's out doing these scary things and getting away with it, and they don't really think about some dead, decomposing, rotting body and some mother's broken heart when her son never comes home. Those things don't make good copies, so they don't get focused on as much." 

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