Cooper Koch Reveals Details From His Talk With Erik Menendez After 'Monsters'

Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, is keeping it real about his connection to the case off-screen. At a recent Monsters event, Koch shared with Variety that he spoke to the real Erik Menendez right after the big news: a Los Angeles judge reduced the Menendez brothers’ sentences from life without parole to 50 years to life.

Now, after 35 years, Erik and his brother could actually get a shot at parole thanks to California’s Youthful Offender law.

Koch said Erik is genuinely hopeful about the future and wants to push for big changes in the prison system, especially for others facing life sentences. He hopes that, in ten years, people will feel good about the choice to release them.

Koch also talked about visiting Erik and Lyle in prison with Kim Kardashian—yes, really—where he saw firsthand how they’re trying to make a difference. Erik now leads meditation and speech classes and works on a project to improve prison spaces.

With Monsters dropping in September 2024, the series has put a new spotlight on the Menendez story and sparked fresh conversation about second chances and criminal justice.