Love him or loathe him, there’s no denying that Ryan Murphy is one of the most provocative — and prolific — creators of television working today. From American Horror Story to All’s Fair, Nip/Tuck to The Beauty, and from Scream Queens to Monster, the man has been a dominant force in 21st century TV with his wild, often boundary-pushing approach to the form. And his latest show, FX’s The Shards, a sex, drugs, and murder-fuelled coming of age series based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Bret Easton Ellis (author of American Psycho and fellow pen-wielding provocateur), could be his wildest yet — at least if the buzzy new trailer is anything to go by. Check it out below;
We did warn you, didn’t we? This. Looks. Like. A. LOT! Set in Los Angeles in 1981, The Shards‘ trailer opens with a young Bret (here played by Igby Rigney) revealing his latest story pitch to editor Terry (Wes Bentley). “Does it have sex in it? Pink cocaine? Male hookers?” asks Terry. “Yes,” replies Bret. “Everyone loves a good coming-of-age story,” observes Terry. And for the next minute-and-a-half, we get snatches of Murphy on characteristically stylish, sensational, and darkly lurid form as we see Bret and his fellow sexed-up preppy high schoolers’ worlds rocked by the arrival of a mysterious newcomer, Robert Mallory (Homer Gere, son of Richard, in his first leading role), who just happens to have come to Buckley prep school amid a spate of killings by a murderer known as The Trawler. It all looks like Murphy at his most giddily chaotic — and honestly, on first impressions, we’re here for it.
The official synopsis for The Shards — which also stars Hayes Warner, Graham Campbell, Kaia Gerber, Wes Bentley, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jordan Roth — reads: “Set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows a group of privileged high school seniors at an elite prep school as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence.”
We have absolutely no idea how all of The Shards‘ pieces will come together at this point, and whether this will be peak The Beauty and Nip/Tuck level Murphy or All’s Fair Murphy. What we do know is that we are incredibly curious to find out when Ryan Murphy’s latest series drops on Disney+ on 5 August.
