Premiere: Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba Debut Tense ‘Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy’ Score

October 16, 2025

Soundtracks, Scores and More Staff

Lakeshore Records is set to release Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy—Original Series Soundtrack digitally on Friday, October 17, with an original score by Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba (both scored “Shogun” w/ Atticus Ross). Ahead of the release, we are given an exclusive first listen to “Hymn 1” from the soundtrack!  Ross and Chuba excel at creating distinctive and strikingly ominous soundscapes. Two cellists, Hillary Smith and Mauro Basilio, collaborated with the endlessly creative composers and they created both atmospherically mournful and quaveringly tense backdrops to the series that explores all facets involved in the horrific actions of a serial killer and the collateral damage left in his wake.  Get a taste of the soundtrack below.  All 8 episodes of the series are streaming now on Peacock.

Note Ross and Chuba: “In creating the score for Devil In Disguise our starting and ending place was the cello. We worked with two cellists named Hillary Smith and Mauro Basilio to achieve a sound that both highlights the tragedy of the victim’s perspective and the horror of the crimes committed. Hillary’s lyrical playing was a perfect fit for the victims’ families and Mauro’s “prepared cello” captured the brutality of John Wayne Gacy’s crimes. We used everything from motors plucking the strings to a plastic cup wedged in between the body and bridge of Mauro’s cello. Combining electronic processing with a live string section we were able to place these two amazing cellists front and center in our score.” 

 
Buy/Stream the Album: [Choose Your Service]

Track List
01. Hymn 1
02. The New Man
03. The Clown
04. Rope Works Better
05. In Mourning
06. Room Buddy
07. Come and Gone
08. The Pit
09. The Empty Space
10. A Mark On A map
11. YFronts
12. Spiders
13. Thermostat
14. 2 and 2 Together
15. Undercurrents
16. The Pit (Reprise)
17. Hymn 2
18. One More Trick
19. 33
20. Pogo
21. Dissecting Line
22. The Last Drive
23. On the Trail
24. Crawl Space
25. Summerdale Ave
26. Spring
27. Caged
28. Circling
29. Indifference
30. Missing, Not Gone
31. Dreams
32. Resolution
33. Withdrawn

ABOUT LEOPOLD ROSS
Leopold Ross is an English musician whose most recent score for FX’s universally
acclaimed ‘Shogun’ earned Emmy and Grammy nominations and won both the SCL
and HMMA award for best television score. His extensive prestige TV credits include
Apple’s Godzilla franchise ‘Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters’, ‘Black Mirror’, and ‘Dr
Death’. His film scoring career began with The Hughes brothers 2010 film ‘The Book Of
Eli’. He has gone on to create unique and memorable scores for acclaimed directors
Michael Mann (Blackhat), Harmony Korine (Rebel) and John Hillcoat (Triple Nine).

He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

ABOUT NICK CHUBA
Nick is an Emmy nominated L.A.-based film and television composer. After studying at
USC’s Thornton School of Music, he began working for Atticus Ross and has worked on
numerous projects with him since 2014.

Most recently, prior to “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy” (Peacock), Nick composed
the scores for “Shogun” (FX) with Atticus and Leopold Ross, “Dr. Death” (Peacock),
“The Girl from Plainville” (Hulu), and “Operation Varsity Blues” (Netflix) with Leopold
Ross.

Nick has also composed the scores for several independent films, including the horror
film “Appendage” (Hulu) and “The Strangers Case,” which debuted at the 2024
Berlinale. Most recently, Nick composed the score for “Thelma,” an action-comedy
starring June Squibb that premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and is set for a
nationwide theatrical release this summer through Magnolia Pictures.

Watch the series trailer:

From 1972-1978, thirty-three young men were kidnapped, murdered and buried in a crawl space beneath their killer’s house. And no one was the wiser. Not for all those years. Why? He was charming and funny. Had a good, All-American job. Was a community leader. He even volunteered to entertain sick kids…while dressed as a clown. DEVIL IN DISGUISE: JOHN WAYNE GACY peels back the twisted layers of Gacy’s life while weaving in heartrending stories of his victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror.