Is that Jeffrey Dahmer in the background at Hawkins High School? That’s what some fans on TikTok say after watching a viral video with images of Stranger Things 4. In the final season of the hit Netflix series, there was a scene in one episode where Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) got off the school bus. Just then, another student happens to be walking by in the background and some viewers have noticed that the young man bears a physical resemblance to Dahmer. A clip of the scene has since gone viral, and many others agree, due to the student’s blonde hair, glasses and clothes.
We can assume the reason this is going viral now and not when Stranger Things 4 debuted in May is because there has been a lot of attention for Dahmer lately since the Netflix premiere of the new series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In the series, Evan Peters plays the titular killer alongside Niecy Nash as a suspicious neighbor whose concerns were ignored by the local authorities. The show had its highest debut on the platform since Stranger Things 4and given Evans’ critically acclaimed portrayal, Dahmer just happens to be on the minds of many Netflix subscribers in recent days.
Of course, the Weird stuff team could not have foreseen this, and this is most likely not an intentional reference to Dahmer. The scary truth is that there were a lot of people who looked a lot like Dahmer in the 70s and 80s, and this was partly why he was able to carry out his murders undetected for as long as he had. Dahmer murdered at least 17 people from the late 1980s to early 1990s, cannibalizing the remains of many of his victims. He was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in 1994 while serving his 941-year sentence.
Monster: Jeffrey Dahmer’s Story Is Subject of Controversy
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story debuted on Netflix in September. The series stars Evan Peters, Niecy Nash, Richard Jenkins, Molly Ringwald and Michael Learned. The ten-episode series debuted with huge audiences and has garnered widespread praise for the lead actors, particularly Peters and Nash.
But it wasn’t a flawless debut for Sample on Netflix. Some critics of the series say it might… at accurate to the true story and therefore disrespectful to the killer’s victims. Some relatives of victim Errol Lindsey have also condemned the Netflix series. There have been some issues behind the scenes and a production coordinator was allegedly assaulted on set.
In any case, it’s clear that the series’ release has gotten a lot of people talking. All episodes of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story can be found streaming on Netflix.