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Where is The Shards filmed? Location guide to Bret Easton Ellis adaptation
Ryan Murphy's FX adaptation recreates 1981 Los Angeles across the real city.
FX
- Helen Daly
Published: Friday, 31 July 2026 at 11:22 am
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Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's autofictional thriller The Shards brings 1980s Los Angeles roaring back to life, with the producer's flamboyant style on full display in the nine-episode series for FX.
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Season 1 was shot in 2025 and into 2026, across Los Angeles, bringing to life some of the locations noted in the novel.
Here is what we know about where the series was filmed.
Where was The Shards filmed?
The Shards was filmed on location across greater Los Angeles, the same city in which its story unfolds. Production began in November 2025 and wrapped in March 2026, with the shoot moving between various locations around the city to recreate Ellis's vision of 1981 LA. Rather than doubling a stand-in city for California, the production leaned into the real thing, using the sprawl of Los Angeles itself to capture the prep-school privilege, poolside parties and creeping dread that define the material.
Because the series recreates a very specific slice of the early '80s, much of the work involved period dressing of contemporary LA spaces rather than exotic travel.
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Where is The Shards set?
The Shards is set in Los Angeles in 1981, following a 17-year-old version of Bret Easton Ellis during his senior year at an elite prep school. The story moves through a world of affluent teenagers, film-industry families, drugs, parties and casual nihilism in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley, all while a serial killer known as The Trawler stalks the city's young.
In this case the setting and the filming location broadly align, since the production shot in the same city where the novel takes place. The key contrast is one of era rather than geography: the challenge was making modern-day Los Angeles read convincingly as its 1981 self. In at least one instance the crew even relocated a Valley landmark, dressing a South Bay shopping mall to double for a famous San Fernando Valley one.
South Bay Galleria, Redondo Beach
The clearest publicly documented filming site is the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, where fans photographed a mall shoot and production dressing during the shoot. The team reportedly styled the South Bay Galleria to resemble the Sherman Oaks Galleria, the San Fernando Valley mall that became an enduring shorthand for '80s teen culture and that sits close to the world Ellis grew up in.
It is a neat piece of production sleight of hand: a Beach Cities mall standing in for a Valley icon that no longer looks the way it did in 1981. The South Bay Galleria is a working retail centre, though it has been undergoing significant redevelopment.
Greater Los Angeles
Beyond the Galleria, the production used a spread of Los Angeles locations to stage the series' prep-school interiors, house parties, cars and nightlife. Early production reports mention a poolside party sequence among the first scenes filmed, in keeping with the story's languid, sun-drenched sense of menace, though the specific home used has not been publicly identified.
The real-life Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Ellis's own alma mater, anchors the story's setting, but confirmed exterior filming addresses in the Valley have not been made public.
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Was The Shards filmed in a studio?
Detailed information about soundstage work on The Shards has not been publicly released. As an FX production shooting across Los Angeles, interior sets and controlled environments would typically be built on local stages, but the studio complex used for the series has not been confirmed in official materials.
What have the cast and creators said about the locations?
FX and Disney's promotional coverage has emphasised the series' "vivid backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles" and its blend of '80s teen glamour with dark obsession, framing the city itself as central to the show's identity. The soundtrack, composed by Troye Sivan and Leland, was announced alongside confirmation that filming took place at various locations across Los Angeles to recreate the period setting.
First official stills, released on 10 June 2026, showcased the era's prep-school interiors, parties and street life, underlining how much the production invested in dressing real LA spaces back into their 1981 form. The mid-July 2026 trailer leaned into that same period atmosphere, teasing the sex, drugs and menace of Ellis's Los Angeles ahead of the August premiere.
The Shards is available to watch on Disney+ from Wednesday 5 August 2026. You can sign up to Disney+ from £4.99 a month.
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Authors
Helen DalyDeputy Digital Editor
Helen Daly is the deputy digital editor for Radio Times, overseeing new initiatives and commercial projects for the brand. She was previously Deputy TV Editor at a national publication. She has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Media & Journalism from Newcastle University.
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