“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” asks viewers to be the jury for the Menéndez brothers. The infamous Beverly Hills brothers murdered their parents in 1989 and were convicted in 1996, but today’s broader understanding of sexual abuse has sparked renewed interest in the case.

“(The show) is about the consequences of trauma,” said Javier Bardem, who plays the father, José Variety at the series premiere in Los Angeles on Monday. “Unless (it) is properly addressed and healed, it will have a tremendous, terrible, dramatic effect on future generations.”

The series’ cast and creatives described the “Rashaman” approach to the story.

“We really wanted to present a lot of different points of view and then let the audience decide what they think,” said writer and producer David McMillan. “We’re talking about real people … many of them are still alive. We want to make sure that our story is based on fact.”

“You can’t make a moral or emotional judgment about anybody,” said Carl Franklin, who directed the first two episodes. “You basically have to take the material and put yourself in it and present the strongest argument for each of the actors, for all of the points of view.”

The makers went to great lengths to recreate the period. Los Angeles’ Leslie Grossman, who plays witness Judalon Smyth, said it was spot on.

“My sister-in-law was in Erik’s class. I could name 10 people who knew those brothers. It was amazing to relive it this way and remember so vividly what it was like to be in LA at that time,” Grossman said. Variety.

Composer Thomas Newman worked with his daughter Julia to set the tone for LA in the late 1980s and early 1990s

“These places that you drive through every day are part of this larger story about murder and family,” Julia explained. “That story is really woven into the fabric of Los Angeles.”

Jess Weixler, who plays Lyle’s attorney Jill Lansing, says the brothers are now being viewed through a more sensitive eye than during the trials of 30 years ago.

“There’s something very different about this case than there was then, in the way that people approach (particularly) male abuse in that way… I don’t know if it would have changed the outcome (of the trial), but I do think it would have been treated more meaningfully and less like a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch,” she explained.

READ MORE: Erik Menendez Criticizes Netflix Series ‘Monsters’: ‘Ryan Murphy Can’t Be This Naive and Inaccurate’

Producer Ryan Murphy, who has a history of donating Emmy-winning acting mantles, cast Cooper Koch and Daytime Emmy winner Nicholas Alexander Chavez as the title brothers—Erik and Lyle, respectively. Though neither spoke to the long-incarcerated Menendez brothers, both consumed interviews, documentaries, books, articles, and the entire television broadcast of the trial.

“You create a kind of trauma for yourself, which is difficult to bear, but ultimately very rewarding and satisfying to understand someone and to feel empathy for someone who has gone through something very difficult and tragic,” Koch said.

Koch asked viewers to look forward to the fifth episode, titled “The Hurt Man,” which he is particularly proud of.

“The wounded man, that’s what Erik called himself when he was growing up,” he added.

“This show evokes such conflicting emotions,” Chavez said. “I think that’s what’s made this case so compelling for so long. I’m very curious to see what the public consensus is — if there is any consensus at all.”

Nathan Lane spoke to Griffin Dunne about playing his late father, the late legendary journalist Dominick Dunne. “I said, ‘Well, how would you like to see your father portrayed?’ And he said, ‘I want people to know what a passionate advocate he was for the victims, and how that trial changed his life, professionally and personally,'” Nathan Lane said. “So when I started getting these episodes, I thought, ‘I think he’s going to be very happy.’ Because that was a thread through the whole character and especially in episode seven, which explains a lot about Dominick.”

With “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” premiering earlier this week and “Grotesquerie” next week, Murphy has a lot in the pipeline. Murphy recently announced that Charlie Hunnam will play notorious serial killer Ed Gein in “Monster” Season 3. “There are too many monsters in the world,” McMillan said. “It’s not just about picking a monster, but finding a way to make that story fresh for another generation.”

Check out more photos from the “Monsters” premiere below.