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Peacock is diving deep into one of America’s most chilling true-crime stories with Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, which is premiering on Thursday, October 16, 2025. The series revisits the horrifying real-life crimes of John Wayne Gacy, one of the most infamous serial killers in American history.
Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy kidnapped and murdered 33 young men, burying many of his victims in the crawl space beneath his suburban Chicago home. Devil in Disguise explores the crimes of Gacy by shifting the focus away from the killer and toward the victims and their families. All eight episodes of the series will be available to stream exclusively on Peacock from October 16.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy: Release date and where to watch?
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy will premiere exclusively on Peacock on October 16, 2025. The series will drop all eight episodes on the day of its premiere. To watch the series, viewers will need a subscription to the Peacock streaming platform. Subscription to Peacock starts at $7.99 per month.
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Official synopsis and plot for Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy explored
The official synopsis of the Peacock series reads as follows:
"Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy explores the heartbreaking stories of Gacy’s victims and the immense grief and trauma their families endured, while exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities, and societal prejudices that allowed his crimes to go unnoticed for so long.”
Unlike other serial killer documentaries, the series avoids showing any of the murders onscreen. Instead, it uses flashbacks and emotional storytelling to humanize the story of the victims and explore the effect of Gacy’s crimes on the community.
Showrunner Patrick Macmanus has emphasized that the series avoids sensationalizing Gacy’s crimes, saying,
“We really, truly were trying to focus on the victims — what their lives were like and who they truly were, with no connective tissue to John Wayne Gacy at al. The ultimate goal was to ensure that when people left our show, they saw more than a name or a number.”
Macmanus also revealed that his team even reviewed unaired footage from Peacock’s 2021 docu-series John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise and reached out to victims’ families before dramatizing the story.
The Cast list explored
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is led by Michael Chernus, who takes on the role of John Wayne Gacy. Chernus admitted he was initially hesitant to accept the part, fearing that the project might glorify the killer. What convinced him to take on the role was Macmanus’s assurance that Gacy was not going to be at the center of this story.
The ensemble cast also includes:
- Gabriel Luna
- James Badge Dale
- Michael Angarano
- Chris Sullivan
- Marin Ireland
Behind the scenes
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, in partnership with NBC News Studios and Littleton Road Productions.
Executive producers on the show include Patrick Macmanus, Noah Oppenheim, Sarah Bremner, Liz Cole, Ashley Michel Hoban, Ahmadu Garba, and Kelly Funke. The series has been directed by Macmanus, Larysa Kondracki, Ashley Michel Hoban, Maggie Kiley, and Bille Woodruff, and it has been filmed in Toronto, Canada.
Catch Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy on Peacock on October 16, 2025.
