Evan Peters has maintained an 18-year cult following. His work on American Horror Story (AHS) catapulted him into some of his most famous roles and cemented his status as a staple of horror pop culture. In addition to a career in television, he has numerous films under his belt. His die-hard fans have watched him through all phases of his career. With his extensive variety of roles — both dark and lighthearted — it’s no wonder Peters is so widely admired.
One of Peters’ earliest projects is “Sleepover,” in which he plays the main character’s goofy friend. Despite being his second role ever, he works wonders capturing the hearts and minds of viewers. Even then, his acting potential was apparent, but little did anyone know that he would become such a big deal.
TikTok is one of the most popular platforms for fans to express their love of Peters. Many creators stitch clips of his best film and red-carpet moments into eye-pleasing video compilations accompanied by music and special effects. These edits prove that the thirst for Peters is real. The hashtag #evanpeters has racked up 7.1 billion views thanks to his large fanbase. Despite Peters not having any social media accounts, several fan clubs have created successful Twitter and Instagram accounts devoted to his career.
All of his roles in “American Horror Story” are iconic, and many of them are series fan favorites. Tate Langdon in the first season of “Murder House” is one of his most recognizable roles. The skull-face-painted character is a troubled young man who is also a school shooter. Throughout the season, Tate commits a great deal of moral foul play, nevertheless, many fans later expressed that they were attracted to Peters in this psychotic role. Other familiar characters include “Kit Walker” in the “Asylum” season and “Kyle Spencer” in the “Coven” season.
Peters’ career in film has also fared well, as he’s mastered the art of capturing his audience’s attention time and time again. His role in “Kick Ass” as another nerdy sidekick successfully reeled in the female demographic once more. The film, which featured Peters alongside Aaron Taylor Johnson, provided the perfect opportunity to showcase the actor as charming eye candy. He also played “Peter Maximoff” in two of Marvel’s “X-Men” films: “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men: Apocalypse.” He later reprised the role in “Deadpool 2” and the Disney+ series “Wanda Vision.”
One of the longest-running jokes of Peters’ career is that he never plays “happy” roles. Fans on Twitter have continuously pointed out that the roles he is most famous for are his darkest ones, the roles that likely take the greatest psychological toll on the actor. Some of these theories attribute the darker trajectory of Peters’ career to his collaborations with Ryan Murphy, the creator of the recent Dahmer series, as well as AHS.
His role as Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” has become one of his most controversial performances. His portrayal of the notorious serial killer stirred up plenty of online discourse, with much of the criticism directed at the nature of the series. Since the show is based on actual events, many viewers took offense to its creation. The series’ portrayal of Dahmer’s assaults and murders has been criticized by many members of the Black and queer communities for sensationalizing violence toward queer people of color. As a result, many people have elected to boycott the show entirely.
To make matters worse, Peters’ loyal fandom, unable to distinguish between actor and character, began to romanticize the serial killer. In another vein, a disturbingly large proportion of viewers seemed wholly unaffected by the show’s depictions of violence; many even stated that the series wasn’t “gory” enough.
Despite occasionally playing happy characters, Peters’ best-known roles are often sinister or ill-fated. Throughout his career, he has built a successful repertoire of iconic roles, many of which are as creative as they are controversial. His conventional handsomeness affords him a reasonable fan base, but his mastery of his craft supersedes his charisma and good looks. His work speaks for itself, and after playing a litany of incredible characters, fans can’t wait to see what he does next.
