"Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy" star reveals his daily 'ritual' to honor victims of serial killer Wesley StenzelOctober 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM 0 Santiago Felipe/Getty; Bettmann Archive Michael Chernus at the 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy' premiere in New York; John Wayne Gacy circa 1975Key p...
- - "Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy" star reveals his daily 'ritual' to honor victims of serial killer
Wesley StenzelOctober 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
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Santiago Felipe/Getty; Bettmann Archive
Michael Chernus at the 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy' premiere in New York; John Wayne Gacy circa 1975Key points -
Michael Chernus plays the titular serial killer in the Peacock series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.
The Easy star said he wrote down all of Gacy's victims names and read over the list every day on set.
Chernus also said he was convinced to join the project after discovering that it was "focusing more on the victims."
Michael Chernus doesn't want John Wayne Gacy's victims to fade from his memory.
The actor, who plays the titular serial killer in Peacock's new series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, recently told the Today show about how he honored Gacy's victims during the production of the true-crime show.
"I had kind of a ritual every day in my trailer," Chernus said. "I had this poster board from, like, the science fair, like those three-fold [boards] — and I wrote down all the names of Gacy's victims and their age when they were killed."
Brooke Palmer/PEACOCK
Michael Chernus as John Wayne Gacy in 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy'
Chernus explained why he wanted to continually hold the victims in his thoughts. "I would just kinda open that up every day in my trailer at the beginning of my day to remind myself why I was doing this," he said. "And then [I'd] close it up at the end of the day."
The Severance and Easy actor said he was originally "super hesitant" to pursue Devil in Disguise because he feared "having his name connected to my name for the rest of my life." However, he reconsidered when he realized that the series wouldn't primarily focus on Gacy.
"It's a story that's been covered almost ad nauseum since he was arrested in 1978, and I felt like, 'What new do I have to add to this story?'" Chernus recalled. "And then when I found out they were doing this sort of different thing where we're focusing more on the victims, that really drew me in."
In addition to keeping Gacy's victims top-of-mind, Chernus also said he employed a "mental health safeguard" to prevent himself from being overwhelmed by the darkness of his role.
"I moved my whole family to Toronto, where we shot the show," he said. "So every night when I came home from work, my wife was there, and my 2-year-old daughter was there, and our dog was there, and I just had to leave all that stuff at work."
Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage
Michael Chernus at the 2025 Emmys
Chernus later explained that the detail-oriented period aesthetic on set helped him access his character more easily. "They reconstructed John Gacy's house to look like 1970s suburban Chicago," he noted. "So all of those elements really made it much easier to fall into the role. It's not an easy role, obviously, to fall into, but those tactile things really helped."
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Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy also stars Gabriel Luna, James Badge Dale, Michael Angarano, Chris Sullivan, and Marin Ireland. The eight-episode series is now streaming on Peacock.
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