Peacock has ordered up their own limited scripted series based on the John Wayne Gacy murders, and Deadline reports today that Michael Chernus (“Severance”) will star.
Titled John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, and starring Chernus as John Wayne Gacy, the upcoming Peacock series comes from “Dr. Death” creator Patrick Macmanus.
Chernus said in a statement, “The direction that the writers are taking with this project is important, focusing on the victims and their families as well as those who finally brought John Wayne Gacy to justice. While Gacy was the perpetrator of these horrific crimes, I’m relieved that he won’t be the main focus of the series.”
“It’s heartbreaking for me to think of what his victims (all young men and boys) could have done with their lives had the system not failed them so tragically,” Chernus continues. “I believe in the power of storytelling and hope that by telling this story, in a thoughtful way, we can play some part in preventing this from ever happening again.”
Here’s the official synopsis from Peacock: “From 1972-1978, thirty-three young men were kidnapped, murdered and buried in a crawl space beneath their killer’s house. And no one was the wiser. Not for all those years. Why? He was charming and funny. Had a good, All-American job. Was a community leader. He even volunteered to entertain sick kids… while dressed as a clown. ‘Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy’ peels back the twisted layers of John Wayne Gacy’s life while weaving in the heartrending stories of his mostly gay victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror.”
John Wayne Gacy and his ‘Pogo the Clown’ alter ego made America afraid of clowns long before Stephen King introduced us to Pennywise, claiming 33 lives before being arrested in 1978.
As Wikipedia notes, “John Wayne Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980. He was executed by lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10, 1994.”
You can learn more about Gacy’s horrific murders by watching Netflix’s docu-series Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes, which debuted back in 2022.
