Drugs, sex and murder are the backdrop of “The Shards,” Ryan Murphy’s upcoming drama series based on the Bret Easton Ellis thriller novel.
FX released a trailer for the show, which premieres with two episodes on Aug. 5 on the cable channel and Hulu.
“The Shards” follows a group of rich teenagers indulging in the excesses of ’80s private-school culture in Los Angeles as a serial killer closes in. When the arrival of a new student, Robert Mallory (Homer Gere), coincides with a string of grisly murders across the San Fernando Valley, the narrator, Bret (Igby Rigney), seeks to get to the bottom of the mystery before it’s too late for him and his friends. In the trailer, Bret attempts to convince his friends that Robert is a “psycho” as the horrifying violence creeps closer to their tight-knit circle.
The series also stars Kaia Gerber as Susan Reynolds, Hayes Warner as Debbie Schaffer and Graham Campbell as Thom Wright. Plus, Wes Bentley plays Terry Schaffer, Evan Rachel Wood is Liz Schaffer and Jordan Roth portrays Steven Reinhardt.
The show is co-created by Murphy (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” “Love Story”) and Ellis (“Less Than Zero,” “American Psycho”), who wrote the scripts based on Ellis’ autofictional 2023 bestseller. They executive produce alongside Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Ellis, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich, Tanase Popa, Nick Hall, Michael Uppendahl, Max Winkler, Kathleen McCaffrey and Brian Young. The series is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television.
Watch the trailer for “The Shards” below.