Why ‘Severance’ star Michael Chernus was ‘hesitant’ to play serial killer John Wayne Gacy

Rickon isn’t clowning around. 

Michael Chernus, best known for playing the goofy Rickon on “Severance,” takes a darker turn in the serial killer show, “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy.” 

Premiering Oct. 16 on Peacock, the show dramatizes the serial killer’s reign of terror and highlights his victim’s stories. Gabriel Luna (“The Last of Us”) and James Badge Daley co-star as cops. 

“To be honest, I was hesitant when I first got the call that there was interest in me playing John Wayne Gacy, because that just sounds really complicated and tricky,” Chernus, 48, exclusively told The Post. 

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Gacy was a serial killer who raped and murdered over 30 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Cook County, Illinois. Dubbed “the killer clown” because he dressed as a clown to entertain children (prior to getting caught and convicted for his crimes), Gacy was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994. 

Chernus said he was “put at ease” by executive producer and showrunner Patrick McManus.

“I knew we were on the same page, and that he and I never wanted to sensationalize this story, or certainly not glorify John Wayne Gacy, and that he really wanted to shed light on who some of these victims were,” said Chernus. 

He added that while playing the serial killer, “I never wanted him to come off as too likable or charming. I just wanted the audience to understand this is why some of these young men trusted him.”

Chernus shares a young daughter with his wife, entrepreneur Emily Simoness. Being a dad kept him from dwelling on the dark subject matter during filming.  

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“It certainly sticks with you. But…my daughter was one and a half at the time. And so, every day, I just kind of had to….leave it at the door. And when I came home, I just had to be dad. That really kind of saved me from bringing the work home.” 

Don’t expect to see much of Gacy as a clown in “Devil in Disguise,” however.

Chernus said he’s encountered clowning before, when he attended Julliard in his youth. “We had a couple clowning classes, and physical comedy classes,” he told The Post.

“I will say that with this story, I feel like the the clown thing is something that got blown out of proportion by the media in the 70s.”

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“It’s understandable. It was an interesting headline. It was certainly unique,” the actor said. “But as far as we know, he didn’t actually kill any of his victims dressed as a clown. He didn’t use the clown persona to lure boys and young men back to his house, it was a small part of his life..one of many masks he wore to try to fit in and hide in plain sight.”

He explained, “So we actually don’t show much of the clown.” 

Between Gacy and Pennywise the clown in Stephen King’s “It,” creepy clowns have long been a staple of pop culture. 

“If he didn’t start the fear of clowns, he certainly amplified it,” Chernus said about Gacy. 

“Some people think – and I don’t know that Stephen King has confirmed this – but that he was an inspiration for Pennywise in ‘It.’ That’s the thing that pop culture has taken from this case.” 

But, Chernus added that because the clown aspect “wasn’t a large part” of who Gacy was, “I think we’re trying to re-correct that story.”