Ryan Murphy’s ‘The Shards’ revolves around a serial killer targeting the main characters
‘The Shards‘ recently dropped its first two episodes on FX. The teen thriller has quickly taken over the internet and social media. The Ryan Murphy series follows a group of students at the elite Buckley prep school in Los Angeles. The series, set in 1981, sees the lives of privileged teens at Buckley Prep School turn 360 degrees after the arrival of newbie Robert Mallory (Homer Gere). The gang soon finds itself in the crosshairs of a dangerous serial killer known as The Trawler. One of the biggest questions fans have been asking since the episodes dropped is regarding the identity of this serial killer. Most of Ryan Murphy’s serial-killer shows follow the murderers’ perspective; there is no intrigue about their identities. But this time the tables have turned, and the characters, along with the audience, are now involved in a cat-and-mouse game.
Several stars from the show have given their guesses. Some of them have already had their choices shot down. “I have an idea,” Igby Rigney, who plays Bret, told TV Insider. “I will say that I don’t know, and Ryan has also told me that I’m wrong when I brought up this idea. But he actually hasn’t told any of us who The Trawler is. He’s the only one who knows.” Daniel Dale, who portrays Ryan Vaughn in the series, has seen many fingers pointed towards his character. Dale, though, doesn’t think so and has his money on Steven Reinhardt, Terry’s assistant. He does believe that if Steven is the culprit, that might be too straightforward a conclusion, which in turn casts doubt on its authenticity. He seemed interested in the theory that more than one person acted as the serial killer. “If there’s only one, he’s very efficient. He or she, you know? You never know,” he shared.
Graham Campbell, who plays Thom Wright in the show, loves that the show is adding to the lore the novel on which it is based created. “I think what’s fun about them is that they are for now and maybe forever theories. It keeps you really, really invested about what may or may not have happened,” he said. For those unaware, ‘The Shards’ is based on Bret Easton Ellis’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. The book left the serial killer’s identity up in the air. Bret’s suspicions are proven false; even his narration of events by the end does not seem reliable. On a Reddit thread about the book, most fans claimed that Bret himself is the killer. Some suggested that he had a split personality, while others thought that he was straight up lying to everyone around him and readers. Certain fans thought that he was just involved in Susan and Thom’s attack, but wasn’t actually the serial killer.
The whole fandom, as well as the cast, is waiting eagerly to uncover the mystery. But Owen Painter, who plays Matt Kellner, is not one amongst them.“I don’t think it matters,” he said. “I’d rather not have the answers.” Ryan Murphy may stray away from the book and definitively identify the serial killer named ‘Trawler’ in the show. To figure out if that is the case, fans need to tune in every Wednesday on FX.