While Luca Guadagnino’s reboot of American Psycho is still in the works, it looks like it’ll be competing with another Bret Easton Ellis title for attention when it finally arrives. Deadline reports that American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy is set to adapt the author’s 2023 novel The Shards for television at FX, with model and actress Kaia Gerber set to star.
This isn’t the first time Gerber’s worked with Murphy on a horror project. The daughter of model Cindy Crawford, Gerber featured in three episodes of American Horror Stories, the anthology spin-off of the original series, as well as Season 10 of AHS, also referred to as American Horror Story: Double Feature. The series will be directed by Max Winkler, a frequent Murphy collaborator who recently directed episodes of his Monster series and is also set to direct the pilot for his series American Love Story.
Originally published as a serialized audiobook — isn’t that just a radio drama? — The Shards was traditionally released as a novel in 2023, and is, per Deadline, “a dark coming-of-age tale with semi-autobiographical facets for Ellis. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the story follows a 17-year-old version of Ellis during his final year at the elite Buckley prep school. Upending the character’s world is the arrival of a mysterious new student, Robert Mallory, whose unsettling presence coincides with the activities of a serial killer known as The Trawler.”
The novel was originally set to be adapted by HBO, with Ellis attached to write and Luca Guadagnino rumored to direct, but the project ultimately fell through. No reports on who will be writing the FX version, but it’ll be produced by Murphy, Ellis and Winkler, Nick Hall, Kathleen McCaffrey, and Brian Young.
No release date has been set for The Shards, but stayed tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
