Ryan Murphy’s latest FX project is giving us glossy homoerotic nostalgia with a dash of murder, mystery, and closeted longing.
The Shards, based on Bret Easton Ellis’s 2023 novel of the same name, has officially (Variety) been greenlit and just unveiled its trio of heartthrob leads: Igby Rigney, Homer James Jigme Gere, and Graham Campbell.
Rigney will play the teen version of Bret himself, a closeted 17-year-old navigating the elite Buckley prep school scene of 1980s Los Angeles, while quietly wrestling with his identity and secretly hooking up with male classmates.
Gere (son of Richard Gere) takes on the role of Robert Mallory, the intoxicatingly mysterious new student whose arrival awakens Bret’s obsessions—sexual, emotional, and maybe even dangerous.
Campbell rounds out the trio as Thom, part of the close-knit friend group caught in a web of secrets and growing paranoia.
In the novel, Bret maintains a straight façade with his girlfriend Debbie while engaging in erotic and often confused entanglements with other boys.
The book’s raw and explicit depiction of closeted gay desire—set against the pressures of Reagan-era expectations and violent undercurrents—is central to its impact, with many critics praising Ellis’s “vulnerable portrait of sincere gay love.”
While it’s still unclear how overt the FX adaptation will be about Bret’s sexuality, the queerness is absolutely baked into the source material, and with Murphy steering the ship, we’re hoping for steamy stares, tense silences, and that signature homoerotic undercurrent that made The Assassination of Gianni Versace such a cultural moment.
The story follows Bret’s growing obsession with Mallory—who is described as dazzling, enigmatic, and very much hiding something—as well as a chilling serial killer known as The Trawler who seems to be circling ever closer to the group of teens.
The combination of adolescent lust, psychological dread, and covert queer longing could make The Shards one of the most haunting and sexy entries in Murphy’s canon.
It’s also a major moment for the young cast: Rigney is known for his work on Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher, while Gere and Campbell will be making their television debuts.
Alongside them is Kaia Gerber, already announced, and a high-caliber creative team that includes Max Winkler directing and Ellis himself executive producing.
Whether you’re here for the retro horror, the prep-school secrets, or the queer yearning simmering just beneath the surface, this one promises to be both haunting and hot.
