Ryan Murphy's 'Strzępy' series tones down explicit scenes for broader audience

Disney+ has launched "Strzępy," a new television series created by Ryan Murphy that adapts Bret Easton Ellis's controversial novel. Set in early‑1980s Los Angeles, the drama follows a group of privileged teenagers at an elite school, with a subplot involving a serial killer known as the Trawler. The cast includes Igby Rigney as aspiring writer Bret, Kaia Gerber and Homer Gere among the teen ensemble.

Murphy said he deliberately omitted the book's graphic sexual content to make the show suitable for a wider viewership, noting, "As a father of three, I felt the series should be made with taste." He also described the series as a "first‑times" story about youthful experiences rather than pure physicality. Critics are split: some praise the period atmosphere and production design, while others argue the series leans too heavily on shock value and visual excess, losing the psychological depth of the source material.