Bret Easton Ellis’ The Shards Just Upgraded Its Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Wes Bentley, and Jordan Roth Sign On
Evan Rachel Wood, Wes Bentley, and Jordan Roth join Ryan Murphy’s The Shards, supercharging the series adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel.
Ryan Murphy is turning Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards into an FX series, and the cast just leveled up in a big way. The trades say Evan Rachel Wood, Wes Bentley, and Tony-winning producer Jordan Roth are climbing aboard. This is only six months after the project first surfaced with Kaia Gerber attached to star. Yes, this is suddenly a very stacked ensemble for a very dark, very 80s story.
What the show is
The Shards is Ellis telling a version of his own senior year at Buckley prep in Los Angeles, 1981. Our lead is 17-year-old Bret, who becomes obsessed with a new kid at school, Robert Mallory, and starts to suspect this enigmatic classmate might be tied to a local serial killer known as 'The Trawler.' It is part teen coming-of-age, part creeping paranoia, and it plays in a stylized, neon-soaked L.A. of the early 80s.
Ellis first released the story as a serialized audiobook on his Patreon in 2020, then published it as a novel in 2023. So there is a full roadmap here, not just vibes and nostalgia.
Who is playing who
- Igby Rigney (The Midnight Club) is playing a young Bret Easton Ellis
- Homer Gere, a newcomer, is Robert Mallory
- Graham Campbell (Late Fame) is Thom Wright
- Hayes Warner, a pop singer, is Debbie Shaffer
- Kaia Gerber (American Horror Story) is starring, role under wraps
- Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld), Wes Bentley (Yellowstone), and Jordan Roth (Tony-winning producer) have joined; their roles have not been revealed
'Debbie Shaffer is a rich prep school girl with the right connects.'
Behind the camera
Max Winkler is directing the series. If you follow Murphy's TV universe, you have seen Winkler's name in the credits: he has directed episodes of American Horror Story, American Horror Stories, The Watcher, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Grotesquerie, and Monster: The Ed Gein Story. In other words, he knows the house style and the tone this kind of show needs.
How we got here
This thing took a winding path. The Shards was originally set up at HBO, where Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) and Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) each weighed taking the director's chair at different points. There was even chatter that Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) might lead it. Then it fell apart over creative differences, which is Hollywood-speak for everyone wanted a different show.
Enter Ryan Murphy. The FX version is now filming, with Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere already spotted on set. Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter were first to flag the latest casting wave.
Big picture: a moody 80s L.A. thriller with prep school intrigue and a possible serial killer connection, filtered through Ellis' sensibility and Murphy's precision casting. On paper, that is a potent combo. I am curious who Wood and Bentley are playing, because those choices will tell us how pulpy versus prestige this leans.