Why Ryan Murphy's The Beauty Keeps Getting Delayed
Ryan Murphy's new FX series The Beauty has been floating around for a while now — without a premiere date, without a trailer, and increasingly, without a clear timeline.
An IMDb update briefly claimed January 2026, but neither FX nor Murphy's team has confirmed that. What we do know? Cameras were still rolling in April 2025, which means the show is deep in production limbo.
So, what is The Beauty?
It's an adaptation of the 2016 graphic novel by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, where a deadly STD makes its victims physically beautiful… before it kills them. Murphy's version keeps the detective setup, with Evan Peters and an uncast female lead expected to play partners investigating a government cover-up. Ashton Kutcher is reportedly playing a tech billionaire, because of course he is.
The series is co-created by Murphy and Matt Hodgson, and season one is set to include 11 episodes, produced by 20th Television and Ryan Murphy Television.
The cast:
- Evan Peters, Murphy's go-to lead (and Dahmer Emmy winner), is also executive producing.
- Anthony Ramos (Ironheart, Twisters) and Jeremy Pope (Hollywood, The Inspection) round out the male leads — both are also exec producers.
- Kutcher is in, but mostly in headlines these days for his unfortunate proximity to Diddy.
- And as of mid-2025, they're still looking for a female lead to co-star with Peters.
Why the delays?
Part of it is classic Murphy overload. He's already released Doctor Odyssey, Grotesquerie, and All's Fair this year — plus Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story and American Sports Story on deck, and AHS still limping along.
The Beauty was supposed to begin filming back in November 2024, but the shoot stretched into spring 2025 — with casting continuing through the summer. Post-production hasn't even begun, so a 2026 release is looking more and more likely.
As one trade insider put it: "Another month, another Murphy show."
Will it be worth the wait?
That depends. The concept is bold, the cast is stacked, and Murphy does love a stylized morality play. But with so many other shows already in motion — and no confirmed premiere in sight — The Beauty risks getting lost in Murphy's ever-expanding pipeline.
For now, it remains somewhere between "in progress" and "eventually." So if you're a fan of the comic? Don't hold your breath. Or maybe do — that seems to be what everyone on this project is doing anyway.