The concept of a collaboration between Bret Easton Ellis and Ryan Murphy was always an intriguing one. The master of blank fiction and chronicler of Generation X joining forces with a television producer known for his flamboyant, camp visuals is an enticing prospect. Given that both have a penchant for horror depiction, fashion and the '80s, the pair actually have a lot in common.
FX's The Shards (available on Disney+) makes for an intriguing combination of both styles. Based on Ellis' 2022 autofictional novel, the story centres on Bret, an aspiring author in Los Angeles in the 1980s. While his friends focus on finishing school, Bret is concerned with dark matters such as a serial killer called The Trawler.
Igby Rigney leads the cast as Bret. For those familiar with the author behind the novel, Rigney's voice is near-perfect and his performance uncanny.
He's joined by a couple of nepo babies, including Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber as Susan, the school's most popular overachiever, and Homer Gere (Richard's son) as the main antagonist. Pop singer Hayes Warner makes up the core cast as Debbie, a spoiled brat in a very dysfunctional family helmed by film producer dad, Terry (Wes Bentley) and washed-up actress, Liz (Evan Rachel Wood).
The opening episodes mirror the tone of the book, matching the disaffection of the high school kids with the genuine terror of fictional killer The Trawler. The 1980s Los Angeles aesthetic is hazy, mirroring the effects of all the drugs the teenagers are taking, while the atmosphere is as charged as the sexual tension that runs throughout. The fashion and the soundtrack are faithful to the era, and to the book, which works hard to place itself in the decade it lives in. So far, so good.
One major facet of the book is that Ellis doesn't rush. If he needs to draw out some scenes where Bret is just existing – driving around Los Angeles aimlessly, inevitably ending up at the cinema, before offering a mini review of whatever the character just saw – that's what he does.
While that won't always work in a TV show, Murphy finds a way to ease us into this very particular life before using classic horror tropes to create tension. There's also an ominous presence of a brown van that lingers in wide shots; missable, but always there.
That carefully cultivated atmosphere falls apart in the fifth episode, (though thankfully, only for this episode), when the novel's plot is deviated from in favour of a bizarre dance competition that, for some reason, all the teens need to take part in. Yes, even too-cool-for-school Bret.
The aim is for Debbie to become Groover of the Week because it's a whim she had one day. It's an overt homage to Grease (including a rival dancer called Cha Cha), and has a flustered host played quite well by Anthony Ramos.
This episode undoes everything that's been crafted up to this point to establish the right tone and feeling of the book and acts as a disservice to the hazy, teenage dream/nightmare Murphy had previously created – and mercifully, is able to return to following this diversion. This episode is both surplus to the plot and easily forgettable.
The series manages to redeem itself for its second half, returning to a neat landing in episodes 6 to 9, with episode 8 in particular a real stand-out. Ellis's original novel throws Bret's reliability into question, and Murphy manages to do the same.
Rigney is fantastic in these scenes, portraying Ellis's text with just his eyes. A star is well and truly born. The Shards manages to pull off a difficult balancing act, capturing Ellis's detached blank fiction while embracing the visual excess that defines Murphy's work.
When the balance is struck just right, it's a match made in TV adaptation heaven.
The Shards is available to watch on Disney+ from Wednesday 5 August 2026. You can sign up to Disney+ from £4.99 a month.
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