Last week, we sat down with the cast and showrunner of Peacock’s upcoming limited series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, and it’s safe to say the “Unholy Trinity” of serial killer stories is now complete.
The Rise and Fall of John Wayne Gacy
First came Zac Efron’s chilling take on Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, then Evan Peters’ haunting performance in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Now, Michael Chernus (Severance, Dead Ringers) steps into the role of John Wayne Gacy — and this time, the story isn’t about what he did, but how he got away with it.
Unlike Dahmer or Bundy, Gacy wasn’t conventionally handsome or quietly unassuming. His power was charm—a manipulative warmth that drew in victims and community members alike. He was a businessman, a volunteer, even a clown for children’s hospital events. Beneath the surface, however, he was burying bodies in his own crawl space.
The eight-episode series, showrun by Patrick Macmanus (Dr. Death, The Girl From Plainville), dives not just into what Gacy did, but how he got away with it for so long. “We wanted to peel back the layers of deception,” Macmanus explained during our interview. “It’s about the systems that enabled him—the blind spots in society, in law enforcement, and even in the people who trusted him.”
Set between 1972 and 1978, the series blends gripping procedural storytelling with emotional depth, highlighting not only the horrors of Gacy’s crimes but also the grief and trauma carried by his victims’ families. Chernus portrays Gacy with unnerving precision—alternating between jovial suburban neighbor and calculating predator.
The cast includes Gabriel Luna (The Last of Us), James Badge Dale (1923), Michael Angarano (Oppenheimer), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), and Marin Ireland (The Umbrella Academy), each contributing to a tense, layered portrait of manipulation and denial.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy Review [Warning: SPOILERS!!]
Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy murdered thirty-three young men and boys, burying many of them in the crawl space beneath his suburban Chicago home. What sets the show apart isn’t the brutality of the crimes—it’s the methodical look at how he got away with it for so long.
Michael Chernus plays Gacy with a chilling realism, balancing his public persona as a local businessman and volunteer clown with the manipulative predator beneath. Marin Ireland gives a standout performance as Elizabeth Piest, the mother of one of Gacy’s victims, whose desperate search for her missing son drives much of the emotional core. Gabriel Luna, James Badge Dale, and Michael Angarano round out a strong ensemble that captures the era’s small-town ignorance and misplaced trust.
This show is sick—in the best possible way. If you’ve seen the John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise documentary, you’ll notice a lot of crossover, but the dramatization takes it further, grounding those same facts in fully realized performances. The months of research behind the show are evident in every scene. I found myself recalling details from the documentary and being impressed at how authentically they were re-created on screen.
What Devil in Disguise nails is the psychology of Gacy’s manipulation. He wasn’t a brooding loner or handsome sociopath like Bundy—he was a people person, someone who could talk his way into anyone’s good graces. The show captures that deceptive charm while never losing sight of the horror beneath it. Who captured it arguably better was Michael Chernus, who captures Gacy’s slimy persona with such ease that it’s virtually impossible to picture anyone playing the role that perfectly (he had it down to the mannerisms).
Too often, true crime dramas veer into voyeurism, obsessing over the murders themselves. This one resists that. It doesn’t glorify the violence or dwell on the gore. Instead, it spends time developing each victim, each family, and even Gacy himself as a terrifyingly ordinary man. The result is something far more unsettling than shock value—it’s a portrait of denial, complicity, and evil’s banality.
Marin Ireland’s portrayal of Elizabeth Piest is a standout. She gives the story its human center, embodying a mother’s grief and determination with restraint and honesty. Her search for her missing son is both heartbreaking and grounded, a painful reminder of the families left behind in true crime stories that too often focus only on the killer.
Even with its historical accuracy, the pacing never drags. I watched the first three episodes in one sitting—it’s that gripping. If you already know the real story, the series still feels fresh, adding depth and emotion to events you might think you understand. In many ways, the documentary now feels like a companion piece rather than a prerequisite.
If you’re looking for a gruesome spectacle, watch Monster. But if you want a series that honors the victims and examines the systems that failed them, Devil in Disguise is essential viewing. It’s haunting without being exploitative, emotional without being sentimental—a smart, sobering entry in the true crime genre that finally puts the focus where it belongs.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is available to stream Thursday October 16, only on Peacock.