Ryan Murphy‘s The Shards has officially been picked up to series at FX, Deadline can reveal exclusively. Igby Rigney (The Fall of the House of Usher), Homer Gere (The Agency) and Graham Campbell will join Kaia Gerber as part of the leading cast. The project, from 20th Television and Ryan Murphy Productions, is based on Bret Easton Ellis‘ prep school thriller novel of the same name.
First unveiled as a serialized audiobook before hitting bookstands in 2023, The Shards is a dark coming-of-age tale with semi-autobiographical facets for Ellis. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the story follows a 17-year-old version of Ellis during his final year at the elite Buckley prep school. Upending the character’s world is the arrival of a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory, whose unsettling presence coincides with the activities of a serial killer known as The Trawler.
Rigney will portray Ellis. Gere, whose father is Richard Gere, has been cast as Robert Mallory, and Campbell as Thom Wright. Robert and Thom are key characters in the novel.
Deadline announced the project was in development at FX back in May, with Max Winkler set to direct. The sale came months after Murphy had teamed with Ellis to adapt his novel for TV earlier this year. Previously, Ellis tried to get a different incarnation of The Shards off the ground at HBO since 2023. He was attached as a writer to that version, which he was to executive produce alongside Nick Hall, Brian Young, and Kathleen McCaffrey. Prestige filmmakers Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) and Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) both flirted with directing the project for a time. Ultimately, it didn’t go forward.
Rising to fame in the 1980s as one of the defining voices of Generation X, with his debut novel Less Than Zero, published when he was 21 years old, Ellis remains best known for American Psycho, which Guadagnino has been set to direct for Lionsgate, in a reimagining of the 2000 classic starring Christian Bale.
The Shards will be produced by 20th Television in association with studio-based Ryan Murphy Productions. Murphy, Ellis and Winkler executive produce alongside Nick Hall, Kathleen McCaffrey and Brian Young. A writer has yet to be announced.
Campbell is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Rigney is repped by Buchwald, Canopy Media Partners and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Gere is repped by WME, Brookside Artist Management and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
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