The Shards transforms Bret Easton Ellis’s 1980s LA nightmare into a warning for the present

Ryan Murphy's new Disney+ adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's novel 'The Shards' is set in nineteen eighty-one Los Angeles, following a privileged group of teenagers whose lives unravel when a mysterious newcomer arrives and an unseen serial killer—called 'the Trawler'—terrorizes the community. The series features a fictionalized version of Ellis himself, played by Igby Rigney. Per The Conversation, Murphy and Ellis use the adaptation to explore themes beyond typical teen drama: the show contrasts the freedom of the pre-social-media early nineteen eighties—when teenagers could operate without helicopter parents or constant smartphone surveillance—with the era's darker vulnerabilities and draws parallels to today through music, style, and cultural commentary. This period in Los Angeles saw more than twenty active serial killers. The Murphy-Ellis partnership elevates the work beyond sensational entertainment, preserving the novel's autofiction elements and cultural analysis.

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