{"id":31038,"date":"2026-08-07T11:53:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T06:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31038"},"modified":"2026-08-07T11:53:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T06:53:22","slug":"ryan-murphy-reveals-3-the-shards-actors-who-didnt-have-to-audition-why-he-chose-them-just-jared-celebrity-news-and-gossip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31038","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Murphy Reveals 3 &#8216;The Shards&#8217; Actors Who Didn&#8217;t Have to Audition &#038; Why He Chose Them | Just Jared &#8211; Celebrity News and Gossip"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-2261491\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- Franchise logo or primary category --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- post title --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/post title --><\/p>\n<p><!-- subheader --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<!-- post thumbnail --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"tpd-post-thumbnail-container caption_belowImage credit_onImage\"><img width=\"788\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors-788x444.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium tpd-force-16x9-aspect-ratio wp-post-image\" alt=\"Ryan Murphy on the red carpet with The Shards cast\" decoding=\"sync\" loading=\"eager\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors-428x241.jpg 428w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors-788x444.jpg 788w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 430px) 100px, 788px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-cf-ratio=\"788x444\"\/><figcaption><span class=\"credit-text\">Credit: Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- \/post thumbnail --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/ryan-murphy\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Ryan Murphy<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s brand new series <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/the-shards\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">The Shards<\/strong><\/a><\/em> is currently airing on FX on Hulu and it features a cast made up of both newcomers and veterans. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The show, based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/bret-easton-ellis\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Bret Easton Ellis<\/strong><\/a>\u2018 autofiction novel, is set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles and follows a group of privileged high school seniors at an elite prep school as they navigate identity, sex, jealousy, obsession and the dangers lurking beneath the surface of American adolescence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a new interview, <strong>Ryan<\/strong> revealed three actors who received direct offers to be in the show without having to audition. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors2.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"0\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors2-788x443.jpg\" alt=\"Kaia Gerber at The Shards premiere\" class=\"wp-image-2261496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors2-788x443.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors2-428x241.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">4<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-kaia-gerber-as-susan-reynolds\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kaia Gerber as Susan Reynolds<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan<\/strong> revealed that it was <strong>Bret<\/strong>\u2018s idea to cast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/kaia-gerber\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Kaia Gerber<\/strong><\/a> in the role of Susan Reynolds. He had already pitched the idea to her before <strong>Ryan<\/strong> came on board to create the show!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/the-shards-tv-secrets-ryan-murphy-interview-1236665572\">THR<\/a><\/em>, \u201cWhen I met with Bret, I said, \u2018Do you have any casting ideas?\u2019 He said, \u2018Not really. But I think Kaia Gerber would be great as Susan.\u2019 I said, \u2018Well that\u2019s interesting, because I cast Kaia when she was 18 in her first thing ever [<em>American Horror Story<\/em>].\u2019 So I knew Kaia. Once I got the rights, I called her. She had met with Bret on another project and he had mentioned <em>The Shards<\/em>, but Kaia kept it secret. She really wanted to do it and Susan was her favorite character in the book, so that was a piece of cake.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors3.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"1\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors3-788x443.jpg\" alt=\"Evan Rachel Wood at The Shards premiere\" class=\"wp-image-2261497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors3-788x443.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors3-428x241.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">4<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-evan-rachel-wood-as-liz-schaffer\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Evan Rachel Wood as Liz Schaffer<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan<\/strong> had been looking for another project to do with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/evan-rachel-wood\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Evan Rachel Wood<\/strong><\/a> after working with her 20 years ago on the movie<em> Running with Scissors<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/the-shards-tv-secrets-ryan-murphy-interview-1236665572\/\">THR<\/a><\/em>, \u201cEvan Rachel Wood, I had worked with in <em>Running With Scissors,<\/em> and always wanted to work with again. She just got the offer and said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors4.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"2\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors4-788x443.jpg\" alt=\"Wes Bentley at The Shards premieres\" class=\"wp-image-2261498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors4-788x443.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors4-428x241.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">4<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-wes-bentley-as-terry-schaffer\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wes Bentley as Terry Schaffer<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan<\/strong> worked with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/wes-bentley\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Wes Bentley<\/strong><\/a> in 2014 on the pilot <em>Open<\/em>, which did not get picked up to series. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/the-shards-tv-secrets-ryan-murphy-interview-1236665572\/\">THR<\/a><\/em>, \u201cWes Bentley, I did a pilot for at HBO called <em>Open<\/em> that did not go. I always wanted to work with him. He got the offer and said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large caption_belowImage credit_onImage mobile-image-full-width\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors5.jpg\" class=\"pss-trigger\" role=\"button\" data-pss-trigger=\"3\" aria-controls=\"pss-modal\" aria-label=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\" title=\"Open gallery of 4 images.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors5-788x443.jpg\" alt=\"The cast of The Shards on the red carpet\" class=\"wp-image-2261499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors5-788x443.jpg 788w, https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors5-428x241.jpg 428w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100px, 100vw\"\/><span class=\"pss-trigger__badge\" aria-hidden=\"true\">4<\/span><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"\/><\/figure>\n<h3 id=\"h-how-ryan-cast-everyone-else\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Ryan cast everyone else\u2026<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan<\/strong> told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/the-shards-tv-secrets-ryan-murphy-interview-1236665572\/\">THR<\/a><\/em>, \u201cThe rest of the cast was months and months and months of auditioning. Many of them came in and read for three or four different parts and we would mix and match them. It. It was a very long process, but it was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy casts are very star-studded where people just get offers; I talk to them and they do it or they don\u2019t. But this one, I really wanted to spend a lot of time auditioning people. We saw like 500 actors for these parts. I think that February date was the date we started the casting process, pre-production and all of that stuff,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ryan<\/strong> noted that when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/igby-rigney\/\" class=\"celebrity-tag-link\"><strong class=\"celebrity-tag-strong\">Igby Rigney<\/strong><\/a> walked in the room, he thought the actor looked like a young Bret Easton Ellis. He said, \u201cHe has that mysterious aura about him where he\u2019s an observer. He very quickly in my mind was the one to beat. But Igby also read for other parts. I hadn\u2019t done anything like that in a really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/2026\/08\/06\/who-is-the-killer-in-the-shards-trawler-spoilers-from-the-book-revealed\/\">surprising details about the killer<\/a> in the series. <\/p>\n<p class=\"categories single-categories\">Posted To:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/evan-rachel-wood\/\" rel=\"tag\">Evan Rachel Wood<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/kaia-gerber\/\" rel=\"tag\">Kaia Gerber<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/ryan-murphy\/\" rel=\"tag\">Ryan Murphy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/television\/\" rel=\"tag\">Television<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/the-shards\/\" rel=\"tag\">The Shards<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/tags\/wes-bentley\/\" rel=\"tag\">Wes Bentley<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Getty Ryan Murphy\u2018s brand new series The Shards is currently airing on FX on Hulu and it features a cast made up of both newcomers and veterans. The show, based on Bret Easton Ellis\u2018 autofiction novel, is set against the vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles and follows a group of privileged high school&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ryan-murphy-three-shards-actors.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}