The creatives and stars behind DAHMER –– Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story came together over the weekend for an in-depth conversation about their monster true crime hit — including an unwrapping of that “notorious” sandwich scene.

During a special DAHMER  event, co-creator Ryan Murphy moderated a discussion with the actors Evan Peters, Niecy Nash and Richard Jenkins. Murphy was eager to ask Peters and Nash about the Episode 7, “Cassandra,” sequence, in which serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (Peters) stops by to see his neighbor Glenda (Nash) to try and convince her to take back her complaint about him that has led to his eviction. Glenda has long been suspicious of the noises and smells coming from Jeffrey’s apartment, and so she’s rightly nervous of what he might do — or what he might give her. 

“One of my favorite days on set was when we did the sandwich scene,” said Murphy of the “notorious moment” when Jeffrey, whom the audience knows to be a cannibal, eagerly offers Glenda a meat sandwich. “The reason I was so excited about it was because it was like, ‘Okay, here are two of my favorite people, these two heavyweights, who have finally have a scene that, I believe, was four-and-a-half pages long, and they just get to sit in a chair and go at each other in a very different way.’ ” 

Peters said it was a shared excitement, knowing he’d be going “toe-to-toe” with Nash. “I love that scene because Jeffrey is just powerless in it,” he shared. “He really just wants Glenda to take away the complaint, but she’s not gonna do that, and, even trying to secretly punish her with the sandwich, Glenda is aware of that too. So he’s just completely flailing, and, at the end, Glenda just really says checkmate, and he knows that he’s lost and it’s over.”

Early in the production of DAHMER, Nash realized that Peters’ process in channeling the infamous serial killer “did not allow him to be warm or engaging,” so the sandwich scene was the one that she was looking forward to most. “Because we never really had long scenes together, I didn’t know what to expect from you,” she told Peters, whom she felt like she didn’t get to truly meet until the series was completed. “So it was a beautiful gift and an exchange in our art that I’ll never forget.”

She added with a laugh: “People were like, ‘What’s Evan like?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know the man!’ But, after, I went back and told all my friends, ‘Oh my god, he’s so nice!’ ”

The reunion between Murphy and his stars took place in the wake of the recent announcement that DAHMER surpassed the billion-hour viewing time mark, making it one of the most watched series in the history of Netflix. The series has also been renewed for two more installments that will focus on other notorious figures in history. “When we made it, we were all very proud of the work, and then it came out and, suddenly, it did become this very interesting cultural phenomenon,” Murphy said. “I feel that the world is a very dark and anxious place, and, in some weird way, this show is a place where you can put your anxiety.”

Above everything else, Nash said she’s grateful that a spotlight was put on Dahmer’s countless victims, whether that be the ones he killed or “collateral damage,” like Glenda. “It meant something to be able to understand all of this heinousness that he put into the world [and] who it really affected,” she explained. “So I’m happy that the lens that we saw it through was the victims, and that their stories and their voices are told. A billion viewing hours, people know them now.”

Ryan Murphy Hosts Roundtable With Evan Peters and Cast of DahmerLearn how Evan Peters prepared for the role and more!