{"id":8854,"date":"2026-09-10T12:03:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?p=8854"},"modified":"2026-09-10T12:03:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:03:01","slug":"ryan-murphy-explains-real-reason-the-shards-book-never-reveals-who-the-trawler-really-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2026\/09\/10\/ryan-murphy-explains-real-reason-the-shards-book-never-reveals-who-the-trawler-really-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Murphy explains real reason The Shards book never reveals who the Trawler *really* is"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Trawler is one of the biggest mysteries in The Shards, but Bret Easton Ellis\u2019 book never actually reveals who the killer is, and now Ryan Murphy has explained the real reason behind it.<\/p>\n

In The Shards<\/a> book, Bret becomes increasingly convinced that someone close to him could be the Trawler<\/a>. The serial killer was targeting young people in 1981 Los Angeles. Robert Mallory quickly becomes one of the main suspects, but the novel never gives readers a definite answer.<\/p>\n

So, why keep the killer’s identity a mystery?<\/h2>\n
\"Why
Credit: FX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, Ryan Murphy said, \u201cBret and I never spoke about that. We never talked about the identity of the killer. Obviously, the killer is a person; that\u2019s very clear.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cBut the subtext of that year, for me, was ingrained in the writing. Because, like I told you, I had my first sexual experience in February of 1981. And then three or four months later was the New York Times story about how there\u2019s a new, mysterious disease killing gay men.\u201d <\/p>\n

Murphy then said, \u201cMy adolescence, as it was for millions of people, was always that intimacy was intertwined with death and trauma. So that idea that everybody is being hunted and taken out at the prime of their lives by this mysterious killer, I was like, \u2018Well, that\u2019s very interesting to explore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said, \u201cAnd I spoke to the cast about that. All of that trauma and yearning and longing and pain and wanting to be accepted, all that stuff, was baked in, particularly in the pilot. I just felt it very deeply.\u201d <\/p>\n

“Obviously, throughout my entire career I\u2019ve done a lot of pieces about the AIDS epidemic. It was my experience. The Shards is a whodunnit. But I really understood, ‘Wait, why are people I love dying?’ Because I lost so many friends in a personal way,” Murphy said.<\/p>\n

For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, <\/i>like our Facebook page<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s more than just a whodunnit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[117,48,309,11],"coauthors":[18],"class_list":["post-8854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained","tag-book","tag-ryan-murphy","tag-the-shards","tag-tv"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy The Shards book never reveals who the Trawler *really* is<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ryan Murphy explains the dark, real reason Bret Easton Ellis\u2019 The Shards book never reveals who the Trawler *really* is.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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