Eighties L.A. Is Awash in Sex and Serial Killers in the First Trailer for ‘The Shards’

American Psychos

Bret Easton Ellis’ latest novel about rich, beautiful teens and a killer known as the Trawler gets the Ryan Murphy adaptation treatment

A serial killer stalks Los Angeles against a backdrop of adolescent debauchery in the first trailer for The Shards, the upcoming Ryan Murphy-produced adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel of the same name.

The series stars Igby Rigney as Bret, an aspiring young writer and senior at a posh L.A. private school, whose life begins to unravel after an enigmatic new student, Robert Malloy (Homer Gere), shows up. It just so happens, too, that Robert’s arrival on the scene coincides with a spate of killings, as a murderer known as the Trawler starts targeting teens across Los Angeles.

“You should actually make a little bit of an effort to become my friend,” Robert says casually in one scene featured in the clip. “Or else what, Robert?” Bret replies.

The rest of the trailer is filled with the kind of Eighties-style excess — with a gruesome tinge — that showcases what a good match Ellis and Murphy are for each other. There’s lots of sex and glamour, bloody backpacks and frightening kidnappings, a murder mystery, and lots of overwrought high school drama.

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Along with Rigney and Gere, the cast for The Shards includes the other members of Bret’s circle of rich, beautiful friends: Susan (played by Kaia Gerber), Debbie (Hayes Warner), and Thom (Graham Campbell). And there are a few supposed adults in the room, too, including Wes Bentley, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jordan Roth.

The Shards is set to premiere with two episodes on Aug. 5, airing on Hulu and FX. Ellis published the original book in 2023, marking his first novel in 13 years, following 2010’s Imperial Bedrooms.