X-Men star Evan Peters will portray infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in an upcoming Netflix series about the man also known as the 'Milwaukee Cannibal'.
Director Ryan Murphy cast one of his go-to actors in the title role of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, according to Deadline. The role might be Peters' darkest to date, despite his multiple appearances in Murphy's American Horror Story.
The series will study Dahmer's crimes through the stories of his victims, and scrutinises the white privilege and lenient treatment by law enforcement that saw him almost apprehended and let go at least 10 times.
Dahmer's killing spree began in 1978 and ended in 1991, and during that time he murdered and dismembered at least 17 men and boys. Many of his crimes also involved cannibalism, necrophilia and the preservation of bones and body parts. Dahmer was later beaten to death by a fellow inmate at the age of 34.
While many social media users marvelled at Peters' uncanny resemblance to Dahmer, some felt that the portrayal of real-life serial killers in Hollywood productions was becoming "creepy".
"I'll have to pass on this one. I'm not in the mood to get PTSD from TV watching Evan Peters play Jeffrey Dahmer eating kids. I just can't…" one tweet read.
In 2019, Zac Efron took on the role of charismatic serial killer Ted Bundy in the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Bundy was a former law student who would eventually confess to at least 30 homicides, having kidnapped, raped, and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s.
The movie prompted backlash amid accusations Efron's charming portrayal of Bundy glamorised or romanticised the serial killer.
Meanwhile, fans of Peters were surprised to hear that he was taking on the role of Dahmer, as he had previously spoken about the toll playing intense and disturbing characters had taken on his mental health.
"It's just exhausting. It's really mentally draining, and you don't want to go to those places ever in your life," Evans told GQ in 2018 about acting in sinister roles for American Horror Story.
"And so you have to go there for the scenes, and it ends up integrating it somehow into your life. You're in traffic and you find yourself screaming and you're like, 'What the hell? This isn't who I am'. I fight really hard to combat that and make sure that I'm watching comedies and chilling with friends and watching movies."
