Ryan Murphy’s new FX series, The Shards, is a nine-part psychological thriller adapted with author Bret Easton Ellis from his 2023 fictionalised memoir. Set in Southern California in 1981, it follows 17-year-old Bret as a secretive new pupil arrives at his elite school while a serial killer begins targeting local teenagers, combining coming-of-age drama with murder mystery.

Igby Rigney plays Bret, who is concealing his sexuality, writing his first novel and navigating a privileged, drug-fuelled social circle. His fascination with newcomer Robert Mallory, played by Homer Gere, intensifies as the killer known as The Trawler escalates from abducting pets to staging victims’ bodies in disturbing scenes; the central question is whether Robert is connected to the crimes. The cast also includes Hayes Warner, Kaia Gerber and Graham Campbell.