Evan Peters Cast as Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix's Monster

Ryan Murphy's Netflix limited event series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has cast Evan Peters in its lead role. Despite initial reports on the series indicating that Murphy and his collaborators were casting "a wide net" in looking for their lead, Peters is one of Murphy's go-to actors for new seasons of American Horror Story. Peters is also known for appearing in the superhero movie Kick-Ass and in the X-Men movies franchise as the speedster Quicksilver. More recently, he appeared in Marvel Studios' first Disney+ streaming series, WadnaVision, as a different version of that same character, sort of, more or less.

Emmy-winner Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under, Olive Kitteridge) will play Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey's father. A chemist, Lionel taught Jeffrey some of the techniques the serial killer would later use on his victims, including how to bleach and preserve animal bones. Penelope Ann Miller is playing Jeffrey's mother.

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story tells the story of Dahmer, one of America's most notorious killers who mutilated, cannibalized, and committed acts of necrophilia on his victims. Convicted of murdering 15 people, another inmate killed Dahmer while in prison. The Netflix series purports to tell the story from Dahmer's victims' perspectives, highlighting how local police's inaction allowed Dahmer to evade justice even after neighbors reported his strange behavior.

Murphy co-created the series with his writing partner, Ian Brenna. They previously worked together on Netflix's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest prequel, Ratched, Hollywood, Glee, Scream Queens, and The Politician. David McMillan is also a writer and producer of the series. Carl Franklin (Netflix's Mindhunter) will direct the series pilot. Janet Mock (Pose, Holywood) is also set to direct episodes of the series.

Murphy signed an overall deal with Netflix in 2018. That deal led to his original series Ratched, Hollywood, and The Politician. He's also worked on Netflix original movies Circus of Books, A Secret Love, and The Boys in the Band. He directed the film The Prom, which debuted on Netflix in December.

While Murphy's developmental slate is attached to Netflix, he is still committed to his ongoing American Horror Story anthology franchise at FX, returning for its 10th season. FX already renewed the showed for three more seasons after that and ordered the spinoff American Horror Stories, an episodic anthology series rather than a seasonal anthology.

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