Ryan Murphy’s The Shards adaptation diverges after HBO turnaround
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Ryan Murphy’s FX adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards initially follows the novel closely, but later episodes substantially alter its plot with additions including a porn-industry storyline and a musical sequence. The shift reflects a difficult development history in which HBO abandoned an earlier version led by Ellis, allowing Murphy to take over the project while retaining the author’s opening scripts.
HBO acquired the rights while Ellis was serialising the story on his podcast in 2020 and 2021, and reportedly considered spending more than $100 million on it. Creative disagreements with Ellis, alongside Warner Bros. Discovery-era budget reductions, saw the project placed in turnaround in late 2024; Murphy acquired it for FX, where episodes were reportedly budgeted at about $8 million each. Ellis is credited as co-developer, executive producer and co-writer of the first two episodes, but sources say he has had little meaningful involvement in the final production.
- Murphy’s adaptation becomes far less faithful after its opening episodes.
- HBO dropped the costly project after creative and budget disputes.
- Ellis retains credits but reportedly had limited production involvement.
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The Shards is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, set in Los Angeles in 1981. It follows a teenage version of Ellis and his wealthy school friends as fear grows over a serial killer known as the Trawler.
Ryan Murphy is a television producer known for dramas including Glee, American Horror Story and The People v. O. J. Simpson. He is adapting the book for FX, the US television network, after the project was first developed by HBO.
The adaptation has drawn attention because Ellis was initially closely involved in writing it, while Murphy later took control of the project. Differences between a book’s author and a screen adaptation’s producers can affect how much of the original story, characters and tone remains on screen.
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Originally published by The Hollywood Reporter as “How ‘The Shards’ Blew Up at HBO — and Ended Up in Ryan Murphy’s Hands”.