Drugs, sex and murder are the backdrop for “The Shards,” Ryan Murphy’s upcoming drama series based on the thriller novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

FX released a trailer for the show, which premieres with two episodes on August 5 on the cable channel and Hulu.

“The Shards” follows a group of wealthy teenagers who indulge in the excesses of 1980s private school culture in Los Angeles as a serial killer closes in. When the arrival of a new student, Robert Mallory (Homer Gere), coincides with a series of gruesome murders throughout the San Fernando Valley, the narrator, Bret (Igby Rigney), seeks to get to the bottom of the mystery before it is too late for him and his friends. In the trailer, Bret tries to convince his friends that Robert is a “psychopath” as horrific violence approaches their close-knit circle.

The series also stars Kaia Gerber as Susan Reynolds, Hayes Warner as Debbie Schaffer and Graham Campbell as Thom Wright. Additionally, Wes Bentley plays Terry Schaffer, Evan Rachel Wood is Liz Schaffer, and Jordan Roth plays Steven Reinhardt.

The show is co-created by Murphy (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” “Love Story”) and Ellis (“Less Than Zero,” “American Psycho”), who wrote the scripts based on Ellis’ 2023 autofictional bestseller. They are executive producers alongside Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Ellis, Eric Kovtun, Scott Robertson, Nissa Diederich, Tanase Popa, Nick Hall, Michael Uppendahl, Max Winkler, Kathleen McCaffrey and Brian Young. The series is produced by 20th Television in association with Ryan Murphy Television.

Watch the trailer for “The Shards” below.