The official trailer of Peacock’s true crime series Devil in Disguise is out

Disappearing young men. Grieving families. A detective searching for answers and a chilling tale of Devil in Disguise. Peacock has finally unveiled the first official trailer for their upcoming eight-part docuseries based on the infamous 'Killer Clown' John Wayne Gacy, played by Severance star Michael Chernus.

The chilling case dates back to the 1970s, when Gacy lured, kidnapped, and murdered more than 33 innocent young men and subsequently buried them in the crawl space beneath his Illinois home.

The recently released trailer for Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy offers the first look at Chernus as the infamous serial killer, who was the ideal American citizen in the public eye.

The docu-series, scheduled for October 16 release on Peacock, will recount the chilling case of John Wayne Gacy and how he targeted innocent young men. The trailer also features Oppenheimer star Michael Angarano as Gacy's struggling defense lawyer, Sam Amirante, and The Last of Us star Gabriel Luna as Detective Rafael Tovar.

Devil in Disguise is helmed by Patrick Macmanus (Marco Polo), who serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer on the docu-series.

More on this in our story.

Breaking down the first official trailer of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

The trailer for Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy begins against the haunting tunes of Orville Peck's Dead of Night, which becomes the self-proclaimed anthem of John Wayne Gacy, as he lures a 15-year-old Robert Piest into his car. Piest secures a car ride with the infamous serial killer, following which he goes missing.

The trailer then shows a solemn Piest family gathered around a dining table, when one young woman says:

"The detective said missing kids usually come home. What happens when they don't?"

This sets the gritty tone for Devil in Disguise as John Wayne Gacy begins his hunt for young men, making the crawl beneath his house his own personal graveyard of dead bodies.

Luna's Rafael Tovar emerges as a determined detective who will not stop before providing justice to Gacy's victims. In one of the scenes from the trailer, he knocks at the serial killer's door, asking him about the whereabouts of Robert, who was last seen with him. While Gacy cheekily denies knowing the boy, the police later discover a series of dead bodies under his house, with Tovar questioning his officers:

"His teenage male employees start disappearing, and nobody in your department looks into the guy?"

While the trailer paints a harrowing picture of one of the most terrifying serial killers in 1970s Illinois, it also portrays John Wayne Gacy as a charming American and the least suspecting man. The official Peacock synopsis describes him as:

"He was charming and funny. Had a good, All-American job. Was a community leader. He even volunteered to entertain sick kids… while dressed as a clown.''

In addition to a gripping tale about Gacy's crimes, Devil in Disguise will also explore the grief and trauma of the victims' families left in the wake of their tragic deaths. The recently released trailer certainly suggests that Peacock's docu-series will be an impressive addition to the emerging true-crime library on the small screen.

The trailer ends on a sombre note when somebody asks John Wayne Gacy how many young men he has killed till now, and he replies:

"Up to you to find out."

Devil in Disguise also stars James Badge Dale as Joe Kozenczak, Chris Sullivan as Bill Kunkleand, and Marin Ireland as Elizabeth Piest. The docu-series will drop all eight episodes simultaneously on Peacock on October 16, 2025.

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