Season 1 – The Shards

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Popcornmeter

55%

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42 Reviews

37%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

FX's "The Shards" is a seductive drama series based on the acclaimed bestselling novel of the same name. Set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows Bret, an aspiring writer and observant teenager at an elite prep school, and his glamorous social circle as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession and the dangers beneath American adolescence. Their privileged world of wealth, beauty, parties and excess begins to unravel with the arrival of Robert Mallory, a mysterious and magnetic new student whose appearance coincides with the terror of The Trawler, a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city.

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Critics Consensus

The combination of Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis should elicit magnanimously pulpy TV, but instead The Shards relegates itself to obtuse style with mildly entertaining substance.

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Peter Travers

The Travers Take

1.5/4

Producer Ryan Murphy says he wanted his young Hollywood take on the 1980s sex and serial killers in the Bret Easton Ellis novel to be tasteful and palatable as a series. Well, I didn’t.

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Martin Robinson

London Evening Standard

3/5

This is a watchable, dreamily shallow series about watchable, dreamily shallow kids, made by a watchable, dreamily shallow creator, which occasionally delivers on the horror.

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Roxana Hadadi

New York Magazine/Vulture

We’re not supposed to want the Trawler to kill these teenagers, but that’s where you’ll be by the end of The Shards — ready for someone, anyone, to get rid of the mess.

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Johnny Loftus

Decider

The Shards enjoys expressing its sense of time and place richly — almost ritually. So, huge style points. And we’re intrigued with where it will puncture its protagonists’ seemingly perfect lives.

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Lucy Buglass

TechRadar

4/5

Ryan Murphy is back on top form with Hulu's The Shards, delivering a stylish, blood-soaked adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' semi-autobiographical novel.

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Álvaro Onieva

Fotogramas

All things considered, The Shards does not belong in the pile of Ryan Murphy’s good series. It neither grips us very much nor manages to offer interesting reflections on our society, remaining far too superficial and unoriginal. [Full review in Spanish]

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Slick R

@SlickReviewer 15h

For an early 80's throwback high school show about nepo babies it's just isn't exciting. I'm not sure what target audience Ryan Murphy was aiming for with this show but it's definitely not high school kids. And if he was aiming for 60+ year olds(who would have been the age of the kids in high school) I highly doubt they are watching this show.

Shawn K

@srk827 20h

Super fun show, love the cast

Jill G

@gilljannon23 20h

The show is ok. But I feel like that the acting is like mid. If you’re going to be a nepo baby actor, be a good one.

Erma S

@Shorty598 21h

If you can have homoerotic and voluptuous, it's fantastic. The low imdb rating can't be objective.

Ken D

@mynameisken 1d

Just another nepo fest of Ryan Murphy..

Aline L

@alnllaee26 1d

If anyone ever builds a time machine, write to me. I'd like a one-way ticket to 1980s, and this show is why: the light, the cars, the particular menace of a city. Evan Rachel Wood has been one of my favourite actresses for years, and Liz Schaffer is a masterclass — a former model dissolving in her own kitchen, playing it with no vanity at all. Ten years ago Wood would have played Susan Reynolds herself, and I couldn't stop thinking about that version. Because Susan is where the show sags. Two episodes in, Kaia Gerber's character is flat and unspoken — I still can't tell whether she's playing a girl in 1981 or a parody of herself in 1981. Compare Hayes Warner, who is a singer making her acting debut and still makes Debbie sharp, clever, ambitious. That's not a fair fight, and Gerber loses it. The men fare better. Homer Gere is genuinely striking as Robert — there's something of Jack Torrance in him, charm with a crack running through it. Wood: 10/10.

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Kaia Gerber

Actor

Wes Bentley

Actor

Evan Rachel Wood

Actor

Homer Gere

Actor

Graham Campbell

Thom Wright

Igby Rigney

Actor

Episode 1

Aired Aug 5, 2026

Pilot

It's the summer of 1981 in Los Angeles; a series of crimes coincides with the arrival of a new student in Bret's orbit.

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Episode 2

Aired Aug 5, 2026

Don't You Want Me

Bret digs deeper into Robert's murky past and uncovers some evidence.

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Episode 3

Airs Aug 12

Help Me! Rhonda

A beloved student's sudden disappearance causes chaos for the senior class.

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Episode 4

Airs Aug 12

Robert's Party

Susan's welcome party for Robert is overshadowed by a violent incident.

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Episode 5

Airs Aug 19

Murder on the Dance Floor

A televised dance competition culminates with a horrifying showstopper; written for television by Ryan Murphy and Charles Rogers; directed by Ryan Murphy.

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Episode 6

Airs Aug 26

Homecoming Part One

"Troubled" Debbie is galvanized by a new extracurricular.

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Episode 7

Airs Aug 26

Homecoming Part Two

A surprising Homecoming King and Queen are crowned as the Trawler's killing spree continues.

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Episode 8

Airs Sep 2

Hamlet

Something turns rotten in the state of California, as two blackmail plots reveal two devastating secrets. Written for Television by Lenore Zion & Charles Rogers & Juli Weiner. Directed by Max Minghella.

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Episode 9

Airs Sep 9

Stairway to Heaven

In the 1980s Los Angeles, aspiring writer Bret and his elite prep school circle navigate identity, desire and obsession as a magnetic new student arrives amid a serial killer's reign of terror.

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Episode 10

Airs Sep 2

Episode 110

In the 1980s Los Angeles, aspiring writer Bret and his elite prep school circle navigate identity, desire and obsession as a magnetic new student arrives amid a serial killer's reign of terror.

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The Shards: Season 1 Trailer - This Season On