If you’ve spent any time on Peacock lately, you’ve probably seen that chilling thumbnail of a man who looks hauntingly like one of America’s worst nightmares. We are talking about the cast of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, the scripted limited series that finally dropped in late 2025. It’s a heavy watch. Honestly, it’s less about the "killer clown" trope we’ve seen a million times and more about how a monster hides in plain sight while an entire system looks the other way.
Choosing to dramatize Gacy is always risky. You don’t want to glamorize a guy who murdered 33 young men and boys. But showrunner Patrick Macmanus seems to have threaded that needle by focusing on the failures—the police who didn’t listen, the families who were ignored, and the victims who were essentially erased because of who they were.
The actors had a massive job here. They had to be human without being likable. They had to be grieving without being caricatures.
Michael Chernus as the Man in the Crawl Space
Most of us know Michael Chernus as the quirky, lovable brother Cal from Orange Is the New Black or the somewhat pretentious Ricken in Severance. Seeing him transform into John Wayne Gacy is, frankly, jarring. He doesn’t play Gacy as a cartoon villain. Instead, he captures that weird, middle-manager energy—the "jolly" community leader who everyone thought was just a hard-working contractor.
Chernus has talked openly about how he almost turned the role down. He didn't want to do a "slasher" version of this story. He eventually signed on because the script focused on the victims and the investigation, not just the gore. You’ve got to give it to him; he nails the way Gacy used his "ordinariness" as a weapon.
The Men Who Actually Caught Him
The show spends a lot of time with the Des Plaines Police Department. Gabriel Luna plays Detective Rafael Tovar. If you recognize him, he was Tommy in HBO’s The Last of Us. Here, he’s a lot more grounded. Tovar was one of the first guys to actually crawl into that horrific space under Gacy’s house. Luna plays him with this quiet, simmering frustration—a man realizing that the "respectable businessman" he's tailing is something much worse.
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Then there’s James Badge Dale as Joe Kozenczak.
He’s the lead investigator. He’s the one who had to deal with the political pressure of investigating a guy who had photos of himself with the First Lady. Badge Dale brings that gritty, 70s-cop energy that feels authentic rather than a cliché.
The Legal Battle: Sam Amirante and Bill Kunkle
One of the most interesting dynamics in the cast of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is the tug-of-war between the defense and the prosecution.
Michael Angarano plays Sam Amirante. Amirante was Gacy’s real-life lawyer who later wrote the book Defending a Monster. It’s a complicated role. You’re watching a guy realize his client is a serial killer but still having to navigate the ethics of the legal system. Angarano plays that "in over his head" feeling perfectly.
On the other side, you have Chris Sullivan (the big-hearted Toby from This Is Us) as prosecutor Bill Kunkle. Sullivan lost a ton of weight for the role and looks almost unrecognizable. He’s the hammer. He’s the one trying to make sure Gacy never sees the sun again, and his scenes in the later episodes are some of the most intense in the whole series.
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Centering the Victims: Marin Ireland as Elizabeth Piest
The show starts not with a murder, but with a mother. Marin Ireland plays Elizabeth Piest, the mother of 15-year-old Robert Piest. Robert was the victim whose disappearance finally brought Gacy down in December 1978.
Ireland is heartbreaking.
She represents the thousands of parents who knew something was wrong but were told by police that their sons probably just "ran away." The series uses the Piest family as the emotional anchor. While Gacy is the "title character," the story really belongs to people like Elizabeth who refused to stop asking questions.
A Breakdown of the Key Players
- Michael Chernus: John Wayne Gacy
- Gabriel Luna: Detective Rafael Tovar
- James Badge Dale: Lt. Joseph Kozenczak
- Michael Angarano: Sam Amirante (Defense Attorney)
- Chris Sullivan: Bill Kunkle (Prosecutor)
- Marin Ireland: Elizabeth Piest
- Augustus Prew: Jeffrey Rignall (A survivor who tried to warn people)
Why This Version Hits Different
We’ve had documentaries. We’ve had the Netflix tapes. But this scripted version digs into the "why" of the systemic failure. It’s uncomfortable to watch. It highlights how Gacy targeted "throwaway" kids—young men who were gay, runaways, or from the margins of society—knowing the police wouldn't look too hard for them.
The cast had to carry that weight. They weren't just reciting lines; they were recreating a period of Chicago history that many people would rather forget. The 1970s setting is grimy and lived-in. It doesn't feel like a movie set; it feels like a memory.
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What to Watch Next
If you’ve finished the series and want to separate the Hollywood drama from the cold, hard facts, there are a few things you should check out.
First, go back and watch the original 2021 docuseries also titled John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise. It features actual footage of Gacy’s prison interviews. It’s chilling to see the real Michael Chernus counterpart—the real Gacy—lying through his teeth with a smile on his face.
Second, read John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster by Sam Amirante. It gives you the perspective of the lawyer Michael Angarano plays. It’s a wild look at what happens when a "normal" lawyer realizes his new client is the personification of evil.
Lastly, keep an eye on the Astra Creative Arts Awards results. The show has already picked up wins for its makeup and hairstyling, which, if you’ve seen Chernus’s transformation, makes total sense.
The cast of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy managed to take a story that felt "told-to-death" and make it feel vital and, more importantly, respectful to those who never got to tell their own stories.
To get the most out of this series, watch it alongside the 2021 Peacock documentary to see where the actors drew their inspiration for the specific mannerisms and speech patterns of the real-life figures involved.