Peacock's new true crime drama Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy takes a hauntingly human approach to one of America's most infamous killers. Rather than sensationalizing Gacy's crimes, the series shifts the focus to the victims, their families, and the systemic failures that allowed his reign of terror to continue unchecked.
Ahead of its October 16, 2025, premiere, The Direct's David Thompson spoke with former MCU villain Michael Chernus (John Wayne Gacy), Gabriel Luna (Detective Rafael Tovar), Marin Ireland (Elizabeth Piest), and showrunner Patrick Macmanus about the emotional depth and responsibility behind dramatizing such a devastating story.
From Chernus' careful approach to portraying Gacy without glorifying him, "He never killed anyone dressed as a clown," to Ireland's efforts to honor the victims' lives, "think about the person, not just as a statistic or the way they died," the cast and creative team opened up about empathy, truth, and the lasting impact of this tragedy.
Luna, who previously explained a critical death on The Last of Us Season 2, expressed how his character portrayed the legal system at that time and the frustrations associated with it. It was clear that the cast and crew all felt connected about the series' messaging and how it would stand out among other John Wayne Gacy stories.
Star Michael Chernus on Giving the Power to the Victims With Devil in Disguise
"He Never Killed Anyone Dressed As A Clown...."
- The Direct: "This story has been told many times through documentaries and other adaptations — what do you hope this series adds to the conversation, and what do you want audiences to take away from it?"
Michael Chernus: A goal is to take away from that lore, to stop the glorification of him. I think one of the missteps over the years and all the different forms of media that have been made about him is depicting him as this clown that you know, you see pictures of him with like a bloody knife dressed as a clown, like drawings or whatever.
He never killed anyone dressed as a clown. As far as we know, he didn't use the clown character to lure boys back to his house. It was one of his masks to kind of just blend into normal society.
I want to add to this story or this case or this moment in American history, is to take away the focus from John Gacy, who really was not an interesting person in the least, and move the focus towards the victims and their families and the police officers who solved the case, and the town of Chicago that was, you know, was decimated by this the whole city's hearts were broken by this story. The country's heart was broken. Take the focus off of him and move it where it should be.
"We're Not Demonizing The Police...."
Patrick Macmanus: That's genuinely the point of the show. That's why we made the show.
I would say that so much of what I've done in the past, and so much of what the show is also about the systemic failure that allowed, that allowed this to happen, and how Chicago police had multiple opportunities to be able to stop him over the years and put the pieces together.
But on the flip side of that coin, and I really, really want to make a point of this, we're not demonizing the police, we are absolutely also lauding the other police that had been in the pit for months, had gone out, dedicated their lives, and many of them sort of destroyed their lives over this case in order to try to identify every victim and bring a name to every victim.
Adding a Voice to the Victims' Families in New True Crime Peacock Series
"What's This Woman's Journey? Where Was She Before This?"
- The Direct: "When exploring the different stages of grief in the series, what did you want to bring to your role beyond that emotional journey?"
Marin Ireland: I think that I was really thinking a lot about, well, 'Who was this woman before?' In the same way they were trying to think about the victims in their lives before, and thinking about what her journey of her life had been and continued to be, and maybe what other things she learned about herself through this process.
She certainly developed a different sense of her own agency, and she and her husband certainly their lives went in different directions, and I think that some things she discovered that she felt were important in her life as a result of that and her other children, how she bonded with them in different ways, in terms of how they responded to things and how they showed up for her.
So I was thinking about that a lot, about like, 'What's this woman's journey? Where was she before this?' And then also, what kind of emerged for her, what elements of her own self that kind of came to the surface that she didn't know were there before?
"Not Just As A Statistic..."
- The Direct: "With the series about to reach a wide audience, what do you hope viewers take away from its exploration of grief, the justice system, and the lasting impact of these crimes?"
Marin Ireland: I think that one of the things I'm curious about is if people, as they listen to or watch more true crime after this that they actually just think about the victims and their lives in a different way.
That they're able to think about the person, not just as a statistic or as the way they died, but give a moment to think about the way that person lived as well.
Gabriel Luna on Representing the Police in Devil in Disguise
"He Had This Crusade...To Restore Their Humanity"
Participating in a roundtable interview, The Direct also asked Devil in Disguise star Gabriel Luna a question.
- The Direct: "Your character faces the challenges and unfairness of the justice system—was that something that stood out to you in the script, and how did it shape your performance?"
Gabriel Luna: I think [Detective] Tovar grows, as he did in life, increasingly more and more frustrated with just how many blind eyes were turned to so, so much, so much of this evidence that was just staring people in the face.
It was mostly because of once all the boys got pulled into this one kind of category...They ran into a lot of roadblocks. People were more reluctant to come forward. They didn't fully understand; they didn't really understand what this experience was, what these young men were dealing with.
He had this crusade, just to reclaim their identities, to discover their identities, to restore their humanity. Because so much of that was stripped of them with these horrible acts that Gacy perpetrated, but also so much of it was stripped of them in the media and by the law, by law enforcement.
So I think that just detective Tovar and all of his pursuit of not just justice, because, you know, who knows if that was even served with Casey's execution, but the pursuit of knowing and naming them.
The full video interviews can be viewed below:
