‘The Shards’ Trailer: Igby Rigney, Kaia Gerber Navigate Senior Year and a Serial Killer in FX’s Bret Easton Ellis Adaptation

“Everyone loves a good coming-of-age story.”

FX has released the official trailer for the upcoming drama series The Shards, from executive producer Ryan Murphy and based on the bestselling novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

“Set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows a group of privileged high school seniors at an elite prep school as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence,” FX teases of the show.

The Shards centers on aspiring writer Bret (Igby Rigney), whose world takes a turn after the arrival of a “mysterious and magnetic new student, Robert Mallory (Homer Gere). Transferring in just before his senior year, Robert’s appearance coincides with the growing terror of The Trawler, a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city. “

In the series, Bret’s social circle consists of Susan Reynolds (Kaia Gerber), Debbie Schaffer (Hayes Warner) and Thom Wright (Graham Campbell). Throughout the trailer, Bret is shown growing wary of Robert though his group of friends may not be convinced.

“You always embellish everything,” Gerber’s Susan says.

Wes Bentley, Evan Rachel Wood and Jordan Roth also star in the series produced by 20th Television and executive produced by Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Ellis, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich, Tanase Popa, Nick Hall, Michael Uppendahl, Max Winkler, Kathleen McCaffrey and Brian Young.

The series is based on Ellis’ 2023 horror novel that explores the fusing of fact and fiction and how Bret’s obsession with Robert is equaled with his obsession with the Trawler, “a serial killer on the loose who seems to be drawing ever closer to Bret and his friends, taunting them — and Bret in particular — with grotesque threats and horrific, sharply local acts of violence … Can he trust his friends — or his own mind—to make sense of the danger they appear to be in?”

FX’s The Shards premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 9 p.m. ET on Hulu and FX. Watch the full trailer below.