Ryan Murphy has new series The Shards in development for FX

Top producer Ryan Murphy has his next high-profile series project lined up: The Shards. FX is in early development on The Shards, based on the thriller novel by Bret Easton Ellis, with Kaia Gerber set to star and Max Winkler set to direct, sources say.



Both have worked with Murphy before: Gerber (pictured) had recurring roles on both American Horror Story and its spinoff American Horror Stories, while Winkler has become a regular director for Murphy. He recently worked on the third season of the Monster anthology series for Netflix and will direct the pilot episode of the upcoming FX series American Love Story.

The sale of The Shards comes months after Murphy teamed up with Ellis earlier this year to adapt his novel for television. Ellis had previously been trying to get another incarnation of The Shards off the ground at HBO since 2023. He was attached to write that version, which he was set to produce with Hall, Young and McCaffrey. Prestige filmmakers Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) and Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) both flirted with the idea of ​​directing the project for a while. It ultimately fell through.

The Shards , first unveiled as an audiobook in series form before hitting bookstores in 2023, is a dark coming-of-age story with semi-autobiographical facets for Ellis. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the story follows a 17-year-old version of Ellis as he moves through his senior year at the elite Buckley School. The character’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory, whose unsettling presence coincides with the activities of a serial killer known as The Trawler.

Ellis, who rose 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 just 21, remains best known for American Psycho , which Guadagnino is set to direct for Lionsgate, in a retelling of the 2000 classic starring Christian Bale.

Gerber recently appeared in the hit HBO Max comedy series Hacks and can currently be seen in Benito Skinner’s comedy series Overcompensating on Amazon. She will soon be seen again in the Apple series Palm Royale, which is now in its second season.

Murphy last year created Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the second season of his popular Monster anthology series for Netflix. A third season of the series, starring Charlie Hunnam as murderer and psycho inspiration Ed Gein, is expected to air next year.

Under his deal with 20th TV, Murphy has a number of new series planned, including 9-1-1: Nashville on ABC, the legal drama All's Fair on Hulu starring Kim Kardashian, and both American Love Story and The Beauty on FX.