Ryan Murphy didn’t have to look very far to find the lead of his next series. Deadline reports that American Horror Story regular Evan Peters has been cast as the titular character in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Murphy is cocreating the limited series for Netflix with longtime collaborator Ian Brennan, telling the story of one of America’s most notorious and prolific serial killers largely from the victims’ perspective. Peters is joined by the previously announced Richard Jenkins as well as Penelope Ann Miller, Shaun J. Brown, Colin Ford, and Scream Queens player Niecy Nash.
Nash is set to play the series’ female lead, Glenda Cleveland, a neighbor of Dahmer’s who tried to alert the police and FBI about Dahmer’s erratic behavior. Jenkins and Miller will play Dahmer’s parents, Lionel and Joyce, while Brown will portray Dahmer’s last intended victim, who managed to escape and ultimately aided the police with Dahmer’s capture. The 10-episode series will span from the 1960s until Dahmer’s arrest in the early ’90s and will reportedly take a psychological approach to Dahmer’s crimes, analyzing “the police incompetence and apathy that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a multiyear killing spree.” A period drama taking a unique perspective on a loner turned infamous mass murderer populated by a cast of tried-and-true, Murphy-approved actors? It seems Ryan Murphy is really in his Murphy bag on this one.
Monster is the latest in a slew of projects for Netflix from Murphy, who signed a $300 million deal with the streaming platform in 2018, poaching him from his creative home at Fox. Also on the docket are nascent projects including a series remake of A Chorus Line and a yet-untitled Andy Warhol series for Netflix, as well as the third and final season of Pose and Impeachment: American Crime Story, starring Beanie Feldstein and Clive Owen as Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, respectively. Meanwhile, cast members from Murphy’s breakout show, Glee, also revealed Wednesday that they are reuniting at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards to honor their late castmate Naya Rivera, who died after accidentally drowning in Lake Piru in July of 2020. The ceremony, hosted by Nash, will take place on April 8.
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