Ryan Murphy is exploring another real-life crime story on Netflix. The American Horror Story co-creator and his producing partner Ian Brennan have lined up a new limited series on the streamer that will explore the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous real-life serial killer known for cannibalizing his victims. Called Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the series has already gotten the greenlight from Netflix and will begin production in January.
Janet Mock and Carl Franklin are set to direct. Mock will also serve as a writer for the show, alongside Brennan and David McMillan. Franklin, Mock, Murphy, and Brennan will be executive producing alongside Ryan Murphy Productions' Alexis Martin Woodall and Eric Kovtun. Scott Robertson will co-produce, and Rashad Johnson of Color of Change will serve as a supervising producer.
Centered around Jeffrey Dahmer, the Monster series will be "largely told from the point of view of Dahmer's victims, and dive into the police incompetence and apathy that allowed the Wisconsin native to go on a killing spree which lasted over a decade into the early 1990s." The series is also said to dramatize at least 10 instances where police officers released Dahmer after he was apprehended, touching on white privilege with the serial murderer given plenty of free passes by law enforcement.
No actor has yet been attached to play Dahmer in the new series, but Emmy-winning performer Richard Jenkins is set to play the serial killer's father, Lionel Dahmer. As for who will play his son, Murphy and his crew are reportedly "casting a wide net" to find the right actor to take on the role of Jeffrey. Producers are also looking to cast the lead female role of Glenda Cleveland, a former neighbor of Dahmer who repeatedly tried to warn local law enforcement about his behavior.
Dahmer is alleged to have murdered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991, often turning to necrophilia and cannibalism after the fact. He was beaten to death in prison at the age of 34 in 1994, just two years into his prison sentence following his arrest. His haunting story has since been adapted into several movies with various actors playing Dahmer. Some of the actors to portray the murderer include Jeremy Renner, Carl Crew, and Rusty Sneary. Most recently, he was played by Ross Lynch in the 2017 movie My Friend Dahmer. The Dahmer story has been the subject of several documentaries as well.
One particularly famous incident that occurred during Dahmer's murder spree was when 14-year-old victim Konerak Sinthasomphone managed to flee his killer's apartment building while drugged and naked in 1991. When her daughter and niece spotted him, Cleveland alerted the police. When officers responded, Dahmer claimed that Sinthasomphone was his merely drunk, and that he was his adult lover. The police then left the 14-year-old with Dahmer, and the boy was murdered that night. In interviews, Cleveland would later detail how calling the police and even the FBI after this event on numerous occasions got her nowhere, and she believes police didn't take her claims seriously because she's a Black woman.
This new Dahmer series comes as the latest project from Murphy to result from his massive overall deal with Netflix. At this point, Ryan has helped develop the series Hollywood, The Politician, and Ratched for the streaming service. Murphy's latest movie, The Boys in the Band, also just debuted on Netflix this week to great acclaim. This news comes to us from Deadline.