‘Law and Order True Crime’ Finds Its Lyle Menendez

Law & Order True Crime has found its Lyle Menendez.

Miles Gaston Villanueva has been tapped to play the elder brother in Dick Wolf’s forthcoming drama series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The eight-episode first installment of the anthology series is described as a “gripping in-depth dramatization” of the famed murder case that took America by storm in the early 1990s. When the Menendez brothers were tried on national TV for brutally killing their parents in Beverly Hills, their story became a national obsession. Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders dives into the players, the crime and the media circus, detailing the day-to-day battles of the trial and unveiling the shocking truth of what really went down behind the scenes.

Villanueva joins four-time Emmy winner Edie Falco, who will play the Menendez brothers’ defense attorney Leslie Abramson, and Gus Halper (Power), who will play Lyle’s younger brother, Erik.

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Villanueva’s TV credits include Jane the Virgin, The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives, in addition to a theater role starring opposite Al Pacino and Judith Light in the play God Looked Away. He is repped by SDB Partners and Zimmerman Management.

Ordered to series in July 2016, Law & Order True Crime follows in the vein of true-crime scripted dramas like The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Law & Order vet Rene Balcer serves as showrunner, while Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) will direct several episodes.

The two will executive produce with Wolf, Peter Jankowski and Arthur W. Forney. Universal Television will produce in association with Wolf Films.

NBC released the first trailer for the eight-part series earlier this month as part of its upfront presentation to advertisers. The series is slated to air Thursdays this fall at 10 p.m.

Watch the trailer below.