It has been 35 years since José and Kitty Menendez were killed in their California home in 1989 by their sons Lyle, then 21, and Erik, then 18.

While there have been fictional adaptations of the case over the years – most recently the 2017 miniseries “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” – the latest version comes from Netflix, whose “monster” series had a huge hit with “The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” in 2022. “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” premieres on September 19.

Here is a list of the real and fictional people behind the new adaptation, based on the book “The Menendez Murders” by Robert Rand, which also served as inspiration for the series.

Nicolas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menendez

Where you saw Nicolas Alexander Chavez: “General Hospital” (2021-24), “Crushed” (2022)

Who he plays against: Lyle Menendez, the older of the two Menéndez brothers, born in 1968. At the time of the murder, Lyle Menendez had been suspended from Princeton University for a year because he was accused of plagiarizing a paper, which he denied. He and his younger brother were tennis players.

The night José and Kitty were murdered, Lyle Menendez called police. “Someone killed my parents,” he told the operator, according to a transcript of the call.

The brothers were accused of having deliberately murdered their parents. There were two trials. The first was a media sensation before two juries, the second took place behind closed doors and before only one jury.

During their first trial, the defense argued that the brothers killed their parents because their father sexually abused them and they were afraid he would kill them if they spoke about it. The prosecution argued that the brothers killed their father for financial reasons – they inherited a fortune estimated to be worth between $8 million and $14 million, according to “The Menendez Murders.”

Her first trial ended in a failed jury agreement. In the second trial, which took place before a single jury and without television cameras, allegations of abuse were inadmissible.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were eventually found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in March 1996. According to the Associated Press, both brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Cooper Cook (Erik Menendez)

Where you saw Cooper Koch: “They/Them” (2022), “Swallowed” (2022), “Power Book II: Ghost” (2020), “A New York Christmas Wedding” (2020), “Less than Zero” (2019)

Who he plays against: Born in 1970, Erik Galen Menendez is the younger of the two brothers. At the time of the murder, Erik Menendez was about to attend UCLA and was commuting from the family home in Beverly Hills. After his parents were murdered, he hired a full-time tennis coach and began competing in tournaments. He was in Israel competing in tournaments when police ordered his surrender, the LA Times reported at the time.

Javier Bardem (Jose Menendez)

Where you saw Javier Bardem: “Dune” (Parts 1 and 2) (2021-24); “Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge” (2017); “Skyfall” (2012); “No Country for Old Men” (2007); “The Sea Inside” (2004)

Who he plays against: José Menendez, the father of the Menendez brothers. José Menendez fled Cuba as a teenager for a town in rural Pennsylvania when dictator Fidel Castro came to power. He met Kitty Anderson, his future wife, at Southern Illinois University, where he received a scholarship. They married in 1983 and moved to New York, where he earned a degree in accounting from Queens College. Hen later ran the recording division of RCA-Ariola and other business ventures.

To the outside world, he was known for pushing his sons hard in sports and school, but the brothers say things were even darker in their California home.

At his first trial, the brothers told of sexual abuse by their father. Lyle Menendez said during his testimony that he had confronted his father about Erik Menendez’s ongoing abuse in the days before the double murder. He threatened to tell police, but then feared his father would retaliate. “I thought we were in danger,” he testified. “I felt like he had no choice. He was going to kill us.”

Years later, in 2024, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo testified that he was abused by José Menendez in the Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of TODAY.

Chloe Sevigny (Mary Louise’ Kitty; Menendez)

Where you saw Chloë Sevigny: “Feud” (2024); “Poker Face” (2023); “Matryoshka” (2019-22); “American Horror Story” (2012-16); “Big Love” (2006-11); “Kids” (1995)

Who she plays: Mary Louise Anderson, known as Kitty, the mother of Lyle and Erik Menendez. She was from Wateska, Illinois, where her parents were divorced, and was a “quiet rebel,” according to the LA Times.

Lyle Menendez testified that he told his mother about his father’s abuse. “She told me to stop, that I was overdoing it and that my father would have to punish me if I did something wrong,” he said.

He also said Kitty Menendez “hit and kicked” him and his brother and once chased him with a kitchen knife, according to the book “The Menendez Murders.”

Nathan Lane (Dominick Dunne)

Where you saw Nathan Lane: “The Gilded Age” (2022-23); “Only Murders in the Building” (2021-22); “Modern Family” (2010-19); “The Good Wife” (2012-14); “The Producers” (2005); “The Lion King” (1994)

Who is he playing?: Dominick Dunne was an author, journalist and producer who worked on such films as The Boys in the Band (1970) and The Panic in Needle Park (1971). After his daughter was murdered in 1982, he began writing about wealth and the justice system, often for Vanity Fair. He wrote extensively about the Menendez trial. Dunne died in 2009.

Ari Graynor (Leslie Abramson)

Where you saw Ari Graynor: “Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” (2023); “Mrs. America” (2020); “The Disaster Artist” (2017); “Bad Teacher” (2014); “Fringe” (2009-10); “The Sopranos” (2001)

Who Ari Graynor plays: Graynor is Leslie Abramson, Erik Menendez’s defense attorney in both trials. Her argument in the first trial focused on the abuse she said the brothers suffered. “Abramson was small in stature but a giant in the courtroom,” Rand writes in “The Menendez Murders.” She was considered one of California’s best defense attorneys and was known for saving her clients from death row.

After the brothers were convicted, she said, according to The Menendez Murders, that the case would “never be over” for her because “I will never sever my ties with Erik Menendez or Lyle Menendez or their family.”

Dallas Roberts (Jerome Oziel)

Where you saw Dallas Roberts: “Glass Onion” (2022); “Insatiable” (2018-19); “Good Wife” (2010-16); “Unforgettable” (2013-15); “The Walking Dead” (2012-13); “The L Word” (2006-09)

Who he plays: Jerome Oziel, the psychiatrist to whom Erik Menendez confessed to the murders in 1981. Oziel later provided police with the evidence necessary to arrest Erik and Lyle for the murder of their parents after the judges ordered him to do so.

Leslie Grossman (Judalon Smyth)

Where you saw Leslie Grossman: “American Horror Story” (2017-24); “With Love, Victor” (2020-22); “Santa, Inc.” (2021); “The Good Place” (2017-18)

Who she plays: Judalon Smyth, a former client of Jerome Oziel who became his lover. Smyth eventually tipped off police to recordings of Oziel’s confession from Erik Menendez.

Jason Butler Harner (Les Zoeller)

Where you saw Jason Butler Harner:“Sugar” (2024); “Next” (2020); “Ozark” (2017-18)

Who he plays against: Zoeller was a detective with the Beverly Hills Police Department from 1972 to 2002 and worked on cases such as the Billionaire Boys Club Ponzi scheme, among others, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1996. Zoeller died in 2021.