Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis's 'The Shards' premieres on FX with Igby Rigney leading a 1980s prep-school slasher

A long-gestating adaptation arrives

Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis, credited as co-creators who co-wrote the first two episodes, have adapted Ellis's 2023 novel The Shards into a nine-episode FX series. The novel blends Ellis's real experience attending prep school while writing his debut Less Than Zero with a lurid serial-killer plot. About 500 actors auditioned for the lead role, according to Murphy at the New York premiere. Igby Rigney, 26, landed the part of the young Bret after an in-person audition in Los Angeles and a callback in New York where he met future co-stars Graham Campbell and Hayes Warner. Murphy told him to read the book before returning; Rigney listened to the audiobook, read by Ellis himself, then came back for a chemistry read.

The story and its cast

Set during the 1981 senior year at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, the series follows Bret as he navigates teenage social politics, drug-fueled excess and his closeted homosexuality while a serial killer targets affluent teens across the Valley. Rigney plays the 17-year-old Bret; Homer Gere (son of Richard Gere) plays the enigmatic new student Robert Mallory, whose arrival coincides with the murder spree. Kaia Gerber appears as Susan Reynolds, the popular class president and Cindy Crawford lookalike; Hayes Warner plays Debbie, Bret's girlfriend and daughter of Hollywood royalty; Graham Campbell plays Thom, Susan's boyfriend. Wes Bentley plays Terry Schaffer, an Oscar-winning film producer hiding affairs with men, and Evan Rachel Wood plays Liz, an actress turned socialite. Owen Painter plays Matt, a stoner with whom Bret has a secret relationship.

Critical reception

Reviews published ahead of the premiere were largely mixed to negative. Variety praised Rigney as "terrific," noting he makes the part's contradictions "perfectly legible," but found the series goes "off the rails" once it makes bold departures from the source. IndieWire called it "unboring" but said it "never comes together," with the external plot giving out alongside the show's sense of ambition. The Hollywood Reporter described a production that "rarely coheres," relying on elaborately dressed soundstages rather than effective location work. Vulture was the most severe, calling it "a tragedy of adaptation" that loses the book's ambiguity and shrinks the story to "a stuttering mixtape of needle drops and story lines recycled from Euphoria and Glee." The Irish Times was more positive, calling it "an absolute romp" and praising its vibes and soundtrack.

Rigney on the role

For Rigney, the series marks his first time headlining a project. He completed a global press tour with stops in New York, London and Berlin before the premiere. He told Variety he had not yet met Ellis in person. When asked about reading reviews, he was ambivalent.

I was like, 'Oh man, do I? I don't know.' I think I said, 'Yes, I'll take the packet, but I can't promise to read all of them.'

The series will be available on FX and streaming on Hulu the same day. In international markets it will appear on Disney+. The premiere is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, with an official launch party at a roller rink in Los Angeles.