Peacock’s scripted series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy examines the 1978 arrest and subsequent investigation of Illinois serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Based on the 2021 Peacock docuseries of the same name, the new eight-episode dramatic series created and executive produced by Patrick Macmanus (Dr. Death) tells the story primarily through the perspectives of the investigators, the victims, and their families as Gacy’s horrific crimes were revealed.

The last episode, “Jeffrey,” refers to Gacy’s victim Jeffrey Rignall. The final episode depicts a fictionalized account of Rignall’s life prior to his 1978 kidnapping by Gacy, then his efforts to alert local police to investigate Gacy based on his memories and the home address he was able to provide. The episode also reveals how the victim’s families, law enforcement, and even Gacy’s lawyer Sam Amirante (Michael Angarano) processed the convicted killer’s execution in 1994.

With all eight episodes of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy now streaming on Peacock, NBC Insider spoke with Macmanus and actors Michael Chernus (John Wayne Gacy), Marin Ireland (Elizabeth Piest) and Gabriel Luna (Rafael Tovar) about their last scenes in the series, the characters they play, and the lasting legacy of Gacy.

Michael Chernus and more discuss Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

What ultimately happened to John Wayne Gacy?

Gacy’s defense attorney Sam Amirante (Angarano) and Bob Motta (Michael Esper) adamantly defended their client with an intended outcome that the jury should find Gacy not guilty by reason of insanity. They confirmed in their closing arguments that he was a danger to society at large and belonged in a mental health prison for the rest of his life. Gacy was ultimately found guilty of 33 counts of murder and was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

After sentencing, Gacy was transferred to Menard Correctional Center in Illinois where he lived on death row for 14 years as he appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, his convictions and sentence were not overturned.

In Devil in Disguise, Gacy’s last scene in the series is a haunting voicemail message. On the night of Gacy’s execution, Amirante listens to a message from his former client. Gacy fixates on a long ago contracting job that he didn’t get hired to do for the Amirante’s nursery, and he still wants to know why.

“That scene is so beautifully played on camera by my dear friend and great actor, Michael Angarano,” Chernus tells NBC Insider about the scene. “Initially, Michael shot that scene before we had ever recorded the voiceover. He asked me to just record a voice memo that he could hear on his iPhone while he was shooting his side of that [scene]. We didn’t end up using that voice memo on camera, but it became a guide because Michael was so shook by that recording because it is such an odd thing – you’re about to be executed, and you’re wondering why someone didn’t hire you for a construction job years ago?”

The actor continued, “You hear a lot that he was charming, but also people say he was kind of a bully and he was pushy, and he was always boasting about this accomplishment or that. You never knew if he was lying… people who have to lie that much and puff themselves up and brag about things that aren’t true are deeply insecure. He was a narcissist. He was also so desperate for acceptance and attention. And so I think even as he’s about to be put to death by the state of Illinois, he’s just got to know, ‘Why didn’t I get that job?’ and it says so much.”

Marin Ireland on Mrs. Piest’s last disappointment in Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

Much of the episode allows the families of the victims, all waiting to see Gacy’s execution, to discuss their complex feelings about the behaviors of the state, the police, and Gacy. For Ireland, who played out Elizabeth Piest’s grief in losing her son to Gacy, her last scene was a silent moment that she feels encapsulated so much that happened between her character and the police, as represented here by Lt. Joe Kozenczak (James Badge Dale).

“There’s a reason why there’s no dialogue there. You can’t really put it all into words,” Ireland says of Elizabeth’s disappointment in how they were treated by the authorities. “I’d like to think that by the time we get to that point in the show, that everybody feels all of their feelings and they’ve already said all the things they need to say to each other. I actually think there’s something so incredible about the cumulative effect of that kind of a moment, where you feel like, ‘I know what they’re feeling, and I know why there aren’t enough words to say it in that moment… they’ve already used them all up.'”

Discussing the ending of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

Gacy left this world with so many questions yet to be answered about his motives and a handful of still unidentified victims. There’s some closure, but not a lot of satisfaction to be had by anyone who was affected by Gacy’s crimes.

Macmanus said that he wanted to capture all of those complex feeling in one last scene that had Detective Rafael Tovar (Luna) traveling to Gacy’s former property the day after his execution.

“The end of the show was exactly what I pitched,” he revealed. “I was fascinated by a lot of the case, but I was [really] fascinated by Tovar’s line in which he said, ‘To this day, I’m haunted by the idea that there are still people out there that we didn’t find.’ And that was always going to be the arc of Tovar’s character throughout the course of the show.

“I was also fascinated by the fact that Gacy’s house had been razed and that they had put a new house on the property,” Macmanus continued. “When I pitched the show to the studio and the network before we had a green light, the last beat of the last episode was Tovar staring at the newly built house on the land.”

Asked about playing that moment, Luna said, “There is no pretty bow tied up to it and that’s a big part of this. They’re all just inextricably connected now: the families, the law enforcement, everybody who touched this case was forever changed. It was ongoing, and it’s continuing with our story and how we’re telling it.”

Macmanus closed by saying, “There should not be a feeling of closure, ever. There were too many failures that happened for anybody to feel like they somehow sealed the deal, or won the case and put it to rest. It’s still living to this day. There are still victims who have been unnamed.”

All eight episodes of Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy are now available to stream on Peacock.