Zac Efron, Penn Badgley, Evan Peters, Michael C. Hall — these actors aren’t just good-looking guys with large followings from their work in the spotlight. They have also all portrayed serial killers.
“Do you have anything to say to the people out there who say they want to date Joe despite the minor flaw of murdering people?” Stephen Colbert once inquired Badgley about the immense reaction from the audience to his character on You, who commits multiple murders on the Netflix show.
“I struggle greatly with the conflict of playing such a character who is somewhat likeable and seeing people having such a, as we say, thirsty response to him,” he responded.
After its premiere on Lifetime in 2018, You quickly became a smashing success, moving to Netflix in 2019 where four more seasons were produced. The final season is set to premiere April 24 on the streaming service.
But don’t get it twisted: the presence of hot serial killers on TV isn’t a new phenomenon. Dexter premiered in 2006, and Efron portrayed the infamous Ted Bundy in a 2019 Netflix film. Yet America’s infatuation with true crime has given way to more and more stories about brutal killers, and audiences are eating it up.
Peters had viewers falling for him as one of the most reprehensible murderers of all time in 2022’s Dahmer; Patrick Gibson stars in last year’s prequel Dexter: Original Sin; Tom Bateman prompted new swaths of fans to swoon over him in Peacock’s meta true crime series Based on a True Story and Dennis Quaid portrays Keith Jespersen, who once claimed to have as many as 160 victims, in the upcoming Paramount+ series Happy Face.
In Bateman’s case, Liana Liberato’s character Tory falls in love with his character Matt — despite the fact that she is well aware of his status as the fictional serial killer the West Side Ripper.
“To be playing someone who does these terrible things is interesting because it does bring up a moral dilemma,” Bateman told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 of Based on a True Story. “But I felt [that] it swung so big in such a comedic way that it kind of allowed for a lightness of touch and a sort of parody to it.”
We can all agree these characters’ actions are gruesome, deplorable and unethical, but fans are lusting over them nonetheless. (If you don’t believe Us, look up “Dexter Morgan edit” on TikTok — you’ll be scrolling for hours.)
“I call it the Bad Boy Syndrome,” criminologist Scott Bonn, PhD, who authored Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers, told Us Weekly of the phenomenon, noting that murderers who are locked away in prison or fictional killers on screen provide a no-risk fantasy for viewers. “That attraction is not causing them the potential of physical harm because that individual is controlled. They’re behind bars or on TV. The fantasy in your mind is very different than Ted Bundy actually showing up at your door.”
Bonn, who noted that 75 to 80 percent of attendees at his national speaking tour on serial killers are women, warns viewers to take depictions of murderers with a grain of salt, calling them “popcorn entertainment.” He said the projects “[dilute] the real story by definition. It’s not reality, even though it’s based in truth, and it’s served up in a way as to provide mass appeal.”
He continued: “To the extent that you are portraying the perpetrator as someone who has some sort of redeeming qualities and even sex appeal, then I think you are potentially doing a disservice to the victims.”
Like any production, it makes sense that a good-looking actor would be cast as the leading man, regardless of the character’s moral compass. And it’s no wonder their fans would flock to see their latest work. But, Bonn reminds Us, by giving true-crime stories the Hollywood treatment, “you’ve lost some of the integrity of the case itself.”
So while we may get a thrill watching our favorite stars break bad, let’s remember this is all just part of storytelling — and the reaction they’re hoping for!
