TV
Ryan Murphy’s Prep School Serial Killer Series ‘The Shards’ Sets August Debut
Based on the 2023 prep school thriller novel by American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis, creator Ryan Murphy’s “The Shards” is officially set to arrive this summer.
Look for “The Shards” to premiere on FX and Hulu on August 5 at 6 p.m. PT.
Igby Rigney (“The Fall of the House of Usher”), Homer Gere (“The Agency”), Graham Campbell, Kaia Gerber (Shell), Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”), Igby Rigney, Wes Bentley, and Hayes Warner star.
Set in 1981 Los Angeles, the semi-autobiographical, dark coming-of-age tale follows a 17-year-old 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.
In the series, Rigney will portray Ellis, and Campbell will play Thom. Gere, son of actor Richard Gere, has been cast as Robert Mallory. Frequent Murphy collaborator Max Winkler (“American Horror Story,“ “Grotesquerie”) is attached to direct.
The series is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television.
The series is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television. Murphy, Ellis, and Winkler will executive produce alongside Nick Hall, Kathleen McCaffrey, and Brian Young.
Author Bret Easton Ellis previously attempted to launch an adaptation of The Shards at HBO, with both Luca Guadagnino (Bones and All, Suspiria) and Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) eyed to helm the adaptation, though the project didn’t move forward at that time. Guadagnino is currently attached to tackle a different Ellis adaptation, though, with American Psycho.
Himesh Patel (Tenet, Don’t Look Up) will star opposite Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard) in Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files“, which has wrapped filming on the pilot.
Patel confirmed the news in a chat with The Direct, while reiterating that he and Deadwyler play new characters.
“I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me disappeared. Needless to say, myself and Danielle Deadwyler are playing completely new characters, and we just wrapped on the pilot. If we get to do more… we’ll see where we go from there,” Patel said.
That last sentence is noteworthy, as Patel is reminding that Hulu has only ordered the pilot so far. A full series order has yet to be greenlit.
It’s a good reminder, considering that Hulu also ordered a pilot for the “Buffy: New Sunnydale” reboot that was filmed and delivered earlier this year, only for the streamer to send shockwaves when it opted not to move forward with the series.
As for “The X-Files” pilot, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler writes and directs the pilot. Jennifer Yale (“The Copenhagen Test”) serves as showrunner.
Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Patel and Deadwyler previously co-starred together on “Station Eleven.”
Other actors who have signed on for guest roles include Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, and Sofia Grace Clifton.
“The X-Files” originally ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, with two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018. 218 episodes were produced in total, along with two feature films: 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future and 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Himesh Patel in “Station Eleven”
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