Prepare to be scared of clowns again: Peacock orders scripted series about serial killer John Wayne Gacy

"Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy" will peel "back the twisted layers of John Wayne Gacy's life while weaving in the heartrending stories of his mostly gay victims."

Peacock is making sure that true crime followers never look at clowns the same way ever again.

The streaming service announced at NBCUniversal’s TCA presentation on Tuesday that it has ordered Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy, a scripted series that chronicles the horrific crimes and eventual capture of the infamous Chicago serial killer. 

The limited drama series — which is being helmed by writer, showrunner, and executive producer Patrick Macmanus (Dr. Death, The Girl from Plainville) — is inspired by Peacock's 2021 docuseries of the same name.

In a press release, the network said that its latest iteration aims to peel back “the twisted layers of John Wayne Gacy's life while weaving in the heartrending stories of his mostly gay victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror.”

Gacy murdered at least 33 young men and boys in the 1970s, many of whom he would bury in a crawl space underneath his ranch-style home. He earned the title “Killer Clown” because he often performed as a clown named Pogo at local children’s parties.

In 1980, Gacy was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his known victims — with five still in the process of being identified to this day — and was executed via lethal injection at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet more than 14 years later.

Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy follows on the heels of Netflix’s Golden Globe award-winning series, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The Ryan Murphy-produced drama, which starred Evan Peters as the Milwaukee serial killer who murdered at least 17 young men and boys, sparked backlash from viewers and condemnation from several of the victims' families.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.