- - Michael Chernus Reveals Why He Cut Back Watching True Crime Documentaries After Playing John Wayne Gacy (Exclusive)

Lex GoldsteinNovember 13, 2025 at 11:31 PM

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Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr. ; Brooke Palmer/PEACOCK ; Courtesy of Netflix

Jason Clarke as Alex Murdaugh in 'Murdaugh: Death in the Family'; Michael Chernus as John Wayne Gacy in 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy'; Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in 'The Diplomat'.

For Severance actor Michael Chernus, it took playing a serial killer on screen to stop watching them.

Chernus, 48, plays the titular "Killer Clown" in the Peacock's new limited-series drama, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, which came out on Oct. 16.

"I was an avid watcher and consumer of true crime media," Chernus tells PEOPLE. "And not just watcher, but like, I think I initially got hooked by Serial, the podcast."

Chernus adds that he and his wife, Emily Simoness, then got "hooked" on true crime documentaries during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown.

While they enjoyed watching cult and serial killer plot lines unfold on screen, he says working on the scripted true crime series changed how he will consume true crime media going forward.

"If I'm going to consume true crime, I want it to be shows that take into account the victim’s perspective and the victim's lives," Chernus says, "who they were, the families of the victims, the totality of the fallout of these horrific crimes, the ripple effect of how it not just affects the families."

Related: Watch Michael Chernus Give Disturbing Glimpse into John Wayne Gacy's World in Peacock's Devil in Disguise

Brooke Palmer/PEACOCK

Michael Chernus portrays infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy in new Peacock drama series

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy is based on the six-episode documentary series John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, which Peacock released in 2021. Both series document Gacy's crimes of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering 33 boys and young men. The more recent drama series centers around the discovery of bodies hidden in the crawl space of Gacy's suburban Illinois home in 1978, as well as the victim's stories leading up to their unfortunate deaths.

In addition to recentering the story, the new show shies away from violence on screen, so as to avoid sensationalizing Gacy.

"I'm only interested in consuming these things moving forward if they aren't sensationalized and exploitive and salacious in nature," Chernus adds, regarding his approach to true crime media consumption. "Whole communities are devastated by these horrific acts."

Chernus knows just how far the impact can reach. Born in 1977, he grew up in the neighboring state of Ohio in the aftermath of Gacy's murders. He theorizes that the idea of a "boogeyman" was ever-present "post-Gacy."

"All of a sudden there was the idea of missing kids on the milk carton," Chernus recalls from childhood. "I feel like all of a sudden the national dialogue shifted away from this vibe in the '70s of, yeah, just go out, leave the house in the morning and come back for dinner."

Although Chernus was too young to remember the Gacy trial as it unraveled, he recalls it in the "cultural zeitgeist." The danger was also quite close to home.

In Bay Village, Ohio — the town over from Chernus's Rocky River home — Amy Mihaljevic disappeared from a shopping center at age 10 in 1989. Chernus still recalls the cold case murder.

Related: 10-Year-Old Girl Heads to a Store After School, Then Vanishes — Months Later, Her Body Is Found

"That was very, very present in my early schooling days, was that a kid was abducted and killed from one town over," Chernus continues.

Ian Watson/PEACOCK

Michael Chernus as John Wayne Gacy in the new drama series that recounts the Midwestern serial killer tragedy

While he was able to draw from that personal experience in the role, Chernus says portraying Gacy was different from his more "goofy" roles, like Cal Chapman in Orange is the New Black and Ricken Hale in Severance.

Although there is a "connective tissue" between Gacy's disarming public persona and Chernus's past character portrayals, there was one key difference.

"[Gacy] has this evil underbelly that the other characters I've played on screen don't have, and so that complicated personality was something that really was a challenge that I was excited about," Chernus tells PEOPLE.

The "evil" nature of the role also contributed to Chernus's changed outlook on true crime media.

He says he chose not to method act for the show, which filmed in Toronto, where he relocated with his wife and young daughter.

"I didn't want anyone to have to deal with John Gacy any longer than they already had to," he adds.

on People

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