Peters gained wide recognition for playing multiple roles over ten seasons in Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series American Horror Story, from 2011 to 2021.

His performance as a detective in the HBO crime miniseries Mare of Easttown (2021) won him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

He performed in numerous television commercials for Sony PlayStation, Progressive Insurance, Moviefone, Sour Patch Kids, Papa John's Pizza, and Kellogg's.

In addition, he landed many one episode guest spots in television series such as The Mentalist, House, Monk, The Office, In Plain Sight, and Parenthood.

[11] Peters' breakthrough role was playing the teenager Tate Langdon in the first season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story.

[12] In the second season, subtitled Asylum, he starred as Kit Walker, a man wrongly accused of killing his wife; this role earned him a nomination for the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

[13][14] In the third season, subtitled Coven, he portrayed Kyle Spencer, a frat boy who is killed and brought back to life as a Frankenstein's monster type of creature.

In 2016 he had a role in the comedy-drama Elvis & Nixon and dual characters Edward Philipe Mott and Rory Monahan in American Horror Story: Roanoke.

2017 saw Peters play the lead in The Pirates of Somalia and earn a Critics' Choice nomination for his performance on American Horror Story: Cult.

[21] Also that year, Peters starred in Mare of Easttown, an HBO miniseries about a troubled police detective, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series.

[22][23][24] The end of the year saw Peters return to the American Horror Story universe, playing writer and entertainer Austin Sommers in the first part, Red Tide, of the tenth season.