On Sept. 21, Netflix will premiere the new series DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. From Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the series stars Evan Peters as the titular murderer, exploring Dahmer's horrific crimes along with the failures of the police that allowed them to continue for so long. Along with a new trailer, Netflix has released an interview with Peters with the actor speaking about his research for playing the role and what it was like to step into the shoes of the notorious cannibal.

Peters speaks about how his initial research for playing Dahmer included watching interview footage with the serial killer along with reading different books about his crimes. Listening to actual recordings of Dahmer confessing to his murders was "jaw-dropping" for Peters, who found it hard to believe that these things really happened. Because there are real-life victims involved, Peters also said it was important for the Dahmer team to tell the story as authentically as possible, which meant not embellishing what he did. As Peters explains, Dahmer's crimes are scary enough as it is.

"Honestly, I was very scared about all of the things that he did, and diving into that and trying to commit to that was absolutely going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life, because I wanted it to be very authentic, but in order to do that, I was going to have to go to really dark places and stay there for an extended period of time."

Peters goes on to credit the show's crew for reminding him of why they were making the series, keeping him feeling alright despite channeling his inner darkness to play Dahmer.

Related: These Are Evan Peters' Best Performances, Ranked

The Series Isn't Told From Dahmer's Point of View

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Netflix

Because the idea is not to glamorize Dahmer, or to present him in a protagonist role as a way to garner sympathy for the murderer, the series is not presented from his point of view. Dahmer's name might be in the title, but as Peters explains, that also has to do with how the killer's crimes had gone undetected due to failures in the legal system and other issues.

"To get lost in that, it was a challenge to try to have this person who seemingly was so normal, but underneath all of it, had this entire world that he was keeping secret from everybody. So, we had one rule going into this from Ryan that it would never be told from Dahmer's point of view. As an audience, you're not really sympathizing with him, you're not really getting into his plight, you're sort of watching it from the outside. It's called the Jeffrey Dahmer Story, but it's not just him and his backstory. It's the repercussions. It's how society and our system failed to stop him multiple times, because of racism, homophobia... it's just a tragic story. Everybody gets their side of the story told."

Dahmer will premiere on Sept. 21, 2022, on Netflix. You can stream the series at Netflix.com. Watch the trailer below.