In Peacock's limited series about serial killer John Wayne Gacy, three actors known for their humanity-driven performances step into the minds of men who faced true horror without becoming part of it. James Badge Dale, Chris Sullivan, and Michael Angarano portray the real-life investigators and lawyers who helped bring one of America's most chilling killers to justice.
The Gacy story has been told many times, but the actors insisted this version, produced by Peacock, shifts the focus to empathy and accountability. Producer Patrick McManus, whose previous work includes Dr. Death and The Girl from Plainville, approached the material with a goal of honoring the victims rather than reviving the killer's celebrity. "Patrick let us know exactly how this story was going to be handled and the care and respect the victims were going to be treated with," said Sullivan, who portrays prosecutor Bill Kunkle. "That's what sealed the deal for me."
Sullivan, famous for playing Toby on This Is Us, is used to emotionally layered storytelling. But The Gacy Tapes (the working title for the series) pushed him into darker territory. "For a while, my taste for anything with higher stakes than The Great British Baking Show was too much," he admitted. "I was so focused on these little lives," referring to his young children. "But once I knew Patrick's approach and how carefully the story was being told, it became something worth doing."
Michael Angarano, who also appeared on This Is Us as a younger version of Nicky Pearson, plays defense attorney Sam Amirante, the man who represented Gacy after his shocking confession. His audition mirrored his personal dilemma at home. "In one of my scenes, Sam's wife asks him not to take the case because she knows it'll consume him," Angarano recalled. "At that time, my wife and I had just had our daughter. She was one month old, and I remember thinking: this is exactly what it feels like."
"These jobs have a tendency to consume you. You need to know who you're getting in the water with. Once I learned Patrick was leading it, and heard from others about how great a collaborator he is, I knew it was worth doing because of the people involved."
Dale, known for Iron Man 3, World War Z and 24, the decision to join the show was rooted in trust. He plays Lt. Joe Kozenczak, the investigator who connected the disappearance of teenager Robert Piest to Gacy's suburban Chicago home. "Once we were in, I had zero second thoughts," Dale said. "It was very clear what we were trying to do, that these were good people and that they weren't sensationalizing anything. That was really important to me. If they were taking the other direction, it's not something I'd need to do."
The actors' performances are rooted in real human tension: the fear of confronting darkness while trying to protect their own sense of normalcy. Dale confessed that this kind of material can follow him home. "This is hard material," he said. "I'm guilty of taking work home with me. I work very hard not to, but when you dive into material like this, you need to know you have good partners and you're doing it for the right reasons."
Even so, the trio didn't lose their humor. When asked how they shook off the heaviness of their roles, Sullivan burst out laughing. "You don't go back to Baby Shark. Baby Shark comes back to you," he joked. "Do you want to talk about a real horror story? Baby Shark is a nightmare that we're all living in rotation."
Their shared fatherhood became an unexpected theme in the conversation. Each of them, now parents, said the story's moral center hit harder because they were raising children while embodying men who fought to protect the young. "We all had conversations about that," Sullivan said. "When you're a parent, it's impossible not to think about what these investigators and prosecutors were actually facing."
For Dale, the story also honors the quiet strength of those who carry unimaginable trauma home. "We were able to turn the light and shine it on other people whose stories mattered more," he said. "That's what this show does, it reminds us there's a human cost behind every headline."
The actors were unanimous that their performances were guided by restraint rather than spectacle. "If it's not on the page, it's not on the stage," Dale added. "A lot of credit has to go to the structure we were given to play in and how faithfully it translated to the screen."
The Gacy Tapes revisits the late 1970s suburban Chicago setting where 33 victims were discovered buried beneath Gacy's home. The series reconstructs the harrowing investigation led by Kozenczak, the tense courtroom battle fought by Kunkle, and the complicated moral line Amirante walked as Gacy's defender. Rather than rehashing the killer's cruelty, the show exposes the ripple effects. The investigators' sleepless nights, the prosecutors' ethical struggles, and the families' grief.
For Angarano, the story's meaning lies in balance. "It's about looking at horror and still finding humanity," he said. "As actors, we had to walk that line between truth and empathy. You can't let the darkness define the story. You have to find what's worth saving inside it."
And perhaps that's what unites these three men, the real ones and the actors who now portray them. Whether tracking a murderer, seeking justice, or defending the indefensible, they remind viewers that heroism isn't always loud. Sometimes it's found in the quiet resolve of those who confront evil, then go home to sing Baby Shark to their kids.
The Gacy Tapes premieres this fall on Peacock, continuing the legacy of true-crime dramas that illuminate not the monsters, but the men and women who stopped them.
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