‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ Roars Into Awards Season With 3 Golden Globes Nominations
Netflix hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has roared into awards season. The limited series received a total of three nominations for the 2025 Golden Globes, which were announced in Los Angeles on Monday as the fate of the real-life Menendez brothers remains in the hands of the city’s new top law enforcer.
Monsters is nominated for one of the year’s top TV awards — best limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television. And two of the show’s stars, both of whom saw consistent raves for their performances, received acting nominations: newcomer Cooper Koch, who portrays Erik Menendez in the series, nominated for best performance by a male actor in the limited series category and, for his chilling performance as patriarch José Menendez, veteran actor Javier Bardem was nominated for best male actor in a supporting role for a limited, anthology series or motion picture made for television.
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Koch, whose role in Monsters has catapulted him to stardom, is facing off against some hefty competition in his category: Colin Farrell (The Penguin), Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer), Kevin Kline (Disclaimer), Ewan McGregor (A Gentleman in Moscow), and Andrew Scott (Ripley).
“It was just so crazy to see my name next to all those other names, which is just mind-boggling,” Koch told The Hollywood Reporter by phone on Monday. He watched the nominations with his partner from bed this morning, he added, and spoke with Bardem and received a congratulatory text from Murphy, he said. “This is like everything I could have ever imagined,” Koch said.
Koch received universal acclaim for his performance in the breakout role and particularly for its centerpiece bottle episode, “The Hurt Man,” which is a two-hander with Ari Graynor as defense attorney Leslie Abramson. The 33-minute episode is a single-shot slow zoom into Koch’s face as Erik details the 12 years of sexual, physical and mental abuse he claims drove him to patricide.
“I read it every day, and sometimes before going to bed. And really, my approach to it was just taking all of the stories that he tells and all the memories that he recounts, and really trying to imagine what it would look like from his perspective,” he said.
Bardem, whose category spans across all of television, including drama and comedy, may also have some campaigning to do as he faces legends and newcomers alike, with Tadanobu Asano (Shogun), Harrison Ford (Shrinking) Jack Lowden (Slow Horses), Diego Luna (La Máquina) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) all vying for the award. As José Menendez, he is both terrifying as the harsh disciplinarian to his sons and vulnerable as the generational trauma believed to be running through the Menendez family is realized on screen.
The trio of top nominations for its cast is a coup for Ryan Murphy’s mega-hit yet polarizing series. The Menendez brothers, their extended family and fans complained that the portrayal of the young men in the series was exaggerated and inaccurate and that they have been “victimized by this grotesque shockadrama,” which is “riddled with mistruths.” Murphy was quick to hit back at the criticism, concluding that the brothers “should be sending me flowers” because “they haven’t had so much attention in 30 years.”
Monsters was released as the Menendez brothers are seeking their freedom again after 34 years in prison; the brothers were found guilty of killing their parents at their second joint trial and handed sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, new evidence that they were victims of sexual violence at the hands of their father brought a grassroots movement for their release that both inspired Murphy’s series, the Netflix documentary that followed and former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón to seek their release.
Whether Monsters will be ultimately be helpful to the Menendez brothers’ attempts to earn their freedom after 34 years in prison remains to be seen. Several legal avenues are being pursued in the California justice system, both by their lawyers and the city, and their hopes for their release have now taken an unpredictable turn as the decision around one of the legal routes rests in the hands of incoming L.A. District Attorney Nathan Hochman; the new top law enforcement official in the city has said he will have a decision on his recommendation in January.
See the full list of 2025 Golden Globe nominations.
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