Showrunner Patrick Macmanus and stars Michael Chernus and Gabriel Luna explore how Peacock’s true-crime drama reframes the John Wayne Gacy story through empathy, justice, and truth.
When Patrick Macmanus signed on to wear multiple hats forDevil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, that of showrunner, writer and director, he had one clear mission: to tell the story differently. After previously working on Dr. Death and The Girl from Plainville, he initially turned down the project twice. “I just am not interested in doing another piece of true crime, and I also feel like we have enough serial killer shows,” Macmanus recalled.
It wasn’t until he watched the original Devil in Disguisedocumentary that his perspective shifted. “If you’re going to want me to do this, I’m going to want to do this my own way,” he said. “The way we’re going to do this is really hyper-focus it on the victims’ families, on the police, on the lawyers. And I want to tell the victims’ stories.”
Each episode of the Peacock limited series includes what Macmanus and his writers call “short stories”. Each serves as a standalone episode focusing on individual victims and their lives before they ever encountered Gacy. “We don’t even show a single death on screen,” he emphasized. “It’s a swing, and Peacock let me swing. I think we do have something special to talk about.”
Michael Chernus Finds Humanity Without Forgiveness
Playing the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Michael Chernus faced the daunting task of embodying one of history’s most infamous figures without sensationalizing him. Like Macmanus, Chernus initially turned down the project. “There are so many different ways you could tell this story… I didn’t want to be involved with something that was going to feel salacious or glorify John Gacy in any way,” he said.
After an hour-and-a-half conversation with Macmanus, he changed his mind. “He put all my fears to rest. When he told me we weren’t going to show any murder on screen, and that we were really telling the story of the victims, that was really exciting to me.”
Despite his extensive stage and screen career, Devil in Disguise marks Chernus’s first time leading a major television series. “It meant the world to me,” he shared. “I cared about doing it in a way that if the surviving family members of the victims saw this, they wouldn’t feel like we were just retreading the same ground.”
To prepare, Chernus dove deep into research, reading countless books and watching hours of archival footage. “Eventually, Patrick had to say, ‘Are you still reading books about John Wayne Gacy? Put them down, you have eight scripts to learn.’” The actor also credited his family for keeping him grounded. “When I walked in the door, I couldn’t be John Gacy. I had to be Dad. That was the best thing in the world. It was like a soul shower.”
Gabriel Luna on Justice, Humanity, and Haunting Realism
Portraying Detective Rafael Tovar, Gabriel Luna brings emotional gravity to the other side of the story, the investigators who uncovered Gacy’s crimes and lived with the trauma that followed. “It’s a fictional telling of the story, but there is a lot of truth embedded,” Luna explained. “He represents Tovar, Dr. Stein, Kozenczak, and some of their experiences. He’s a driving force for justice and for restoring humanity to these people.”
Luna spoke highly of his co-stars, particularly Chernus and James Badge Dale, who portrays lead investigator Joe Kozenczak. “We were going to go to some really terrible places, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t support each other and be tethers for each other to reality,” he said. “It was important to show the toll this case took on these men and women.”
During the press conference, Luna responded to a question submitted by journalist Juan Ayala, who asked, “What was your biggest challenge or key takeaway from the experience of filming this series?”
“The challenge,” Luna said, “was to kind of trick myself into that waking hallucination of being there in what amounts to essentially a tomb… uncovering the remains of 27 people.” He described the visceral experience of filming within a meticulously built multi-level set that recreated Gacy’s crawlspace. “I’m not claustrophobic by any means, but I think maybe I developed a bit of claustrophobia.”
He recalled one particularly emotional scene filmed on a frigid Toronto night with actor Christian, who played the father of one of Gacy’s victims. “It was -23 below zero. He delivered this beautiful, touching performance, and being confronted with the face of grief that night shifted a lot of things for me, personally and performatively.”
Depicting Horror Without Exploitation
For Macmanus, steering away from sensationalism wasn’t just an artistic choice, it was a responsibility. “We went out of our way not to linger on anything salacious,” he said. “We don’t show a single death. That choice wasn’t driven by what society says, it’s just how I choose to tell stories.”
When asked about the potential for increasing Gacy’s notoriety by revisiting his crimes, Macmanus didn’t shy away from the ethical implications. “There is no way to tell this story fully without exploring Gacy,” he acknowledged. “But there’s absolutely no excuse other than pure evil for why Gacy was what he was. You can make all the excuses you want: abuse, repression, trauma, but there are countless people who suffer and don’t murder anyone.”
Restoring Names, Faces, and Humanity
Throughout the conversation, all three artists circled back to one central idea: that the true purpose of Devil in Disguise is to restore identity to Gacy’s victims. “These were real people,” Chernus said. “Their names were taken from them. They were just a group of kids who died, and it’s our job to shine a light on who they were before they met John.”
Luna echoed that sentiment, reflecting on his character’s determination to identify victims and bring closure to their families. “There wasn’t a ‘who done it.’ It was ‘who were they?’” he said. “That’s what makes this story different.”
You can binge the entire season of Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy on October 16 on Peacock.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
Click the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friends.
The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of