5 Gripping TV Shows Like The Shards to Watch Next

This article includes references to addiction and sexual assault.

For viewers who can’t resist glossy, over-the-top teen dramas populated by characters with messy secrets and performers who look just a little older than high school age, “The Shards” is an easy obsession. The FX series brings together two unmistakable creative voices: prolific television producer Ryan Murphy and author Bret Easton Ellis, best known for provocative modern works such as “American Psycho” and “The Rules of Attraction.” Given Murphy’s long-running fascination with 1980s style and Ellis’s deep ties to that era, it’s almost surprising their paths didn’t cross sooner. Their collaboration arrives with “The Shards,” based on Ellis’s 2023 novel of the same name — a semi-autobiographical, heavily fictionalized look at his final year at a Los Angeles high school in 1981.

The series also comes stacked with recognizable names and buzzy newcomers. Mike Flanagan favorite Igby Rigney plays a teen version of Ellis at the elite Buckley School, while Homer Gere — son of Richard Gere — appears as mysterious transfer student Robert Mallory. Pop artist Hayes Warner portrays Bret’s girlfriend, Debbie Schafer, and Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, takes on the role of popular student body president Susan Reynolds. Graham Campbell plays Thom Wright, Susan’s quarterback boyfriend, while Evan Rachel Wood and Wes Bentley add grown-up chaos as Debbie’s deeply unsettling parents, Liz and Terry Schaffer. The wider ensemble includes recurring and guest appearances from performers such as Ivy Wolk, Jordan Roth, Dot-Marie Jones, Anthony Ramos, and James Wolk, among others.

If “The Shards” has left you looking for another stylish, suspenseful teen drama to stream next, there are plenty of shows that scratch a similar itch. From dark coming-of-age stories and high school mysteries to series inspired by iconic teen entertainment, here are five shows worth adding to your watchlist if you’re hooked on the world of “The Shards.”

At the very least, “Euphoria” deserves credit for helping cement Zendaya as one of her generation’s defining stars, earning her two Emmy Awards for her performance. But this HBO teen drama is anything but an easy ride. Created by Sam Levinson and adapted from an Israeli series, “Euphoria” follows Rue Bennett (Zendaya), who tells viewers directly that she has recently left rehab and is heading back to high school while still battling a serious drug addiction. Once there, Rue forms a powerful connection with new student Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer), a transgender teen exploring her identity, while also navigating complicated relationships with classmates including Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), sisters Cassie and Lexi Howard (Sydney Sweeney and Maude Apatow), and her close friend and dealer, Fezco O’Neill.

When “Euphoria” first premiered in 2019, its debut season stood out for its bold, character-focused structure, with episodes digging into individual backstories, traumas, and desires. The cast delivered across the board, with standout material for Schafer, Elordi, and “Grey’s Anatomy” alum Eric Dane in a storyline that was both disturbing and emotionally revealing. Later seasons — including its second season in 2022 and its third and final chapter in 2026, following a major time jump — became more divisive and, for some viewers, less focused. Still, that first season remains a striking piece of teen television, making “Euphoria” a natural follow-up for anyone drawn to the intensity and heightened emotions of “The Shards.”

Developed by Marlene King from Sara Shepard’s bestselling young adult book series, “Pretty Little Liars” is a teen mystery thriller that fully embraces the ridiculous — often in the most entertaining way possible. This is, after all, a show that eventually traps its main characters inside a life-size dollhouse run by a deranged tormentor and asks viewers to simply go along with it. The story begins with four friends: aspiring writer Aria Montgomery (Lucy Hale), ambitious academic Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario), stylish former queen bee Hanna Marin (Ashley Benson), and gifted athlete Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell). A year after the disappearance of their best friend Alison DiLaurentis (Sasha Pieterse), the girls begin receiving threatening messages from an anonymous figure known only as “A,” someone who appears to know every secret they have tried to bury.

Part of what makes “Pretty Little Liars” so enduring is the way it mixes genuinely affecting character moments with wildly implausible twists. Emily’s coming-out storyline in Season 1, for example, is handled with real tenderness, even as the series regularly throws its characters into increasingly dangerous and bizarre situations. Some storylines have also aged poorly, particularly Aria’s romance with her teacher, Ezra Fitz (Ian Harding), which the show largely frames as romantic and ultimately carries all the way to marriage. Still, if the deliciously campy edge of “The Shards” is a major part of its appeal, “Pretty Little Liars” feels like essential viewing — and a clear predecessor in the art of glamorous teen chaos.

There are layers to the one-season adaptation of “Cruel Intentions,” which aired on Amazon Prime Video in the fall of 2024. It is, of course, adapted from the hit 1999 movie, which was directed by Roger Kumble and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, and Selma Blair, which itself was adapted from the 1782 novel “Les Liaisons dangereuses,” originally written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Do these layers make the “Cruel Intentions” show into a worthwhile or even good series?

Well, not really — if we’re being honest. Still, this is an easy one-season binge-watch that’s perfect for fans of “The Shards” if you’re really craving a show about rich people behaving in absolutely abominable ways … and rich teens at that. In the small screen take on this now-familiar story, “The White Lotus” Season 3 star Sarah Catherine Hook takes on the role of Caroline Merteuil (Gellar’s Kathryn in the film), with Zac Burgess as Caroline’s stepbrother Lucien Belmont (Phillippe’s Sebastian in the movie), Savannah Lee Smith as Annie Grover (Witherspoon’s Annette Hargrove), and Sara Silva as Celeste “CeCe” Calloway (Blair’s Cecile Caldwell).

In this version of “Cruel Intentions,” the action takes place in college rather than in high school like the movie, which makes everything slightly less twisted as Caroline and Lucien set out to seduce Annie to preserve their reputation at the fictional Washington D.C. school Manchester College. The original “Cruel Intentions” is borderline unwatachable today, but unfortunately, the TV show doesn’t have quite enough bite to make a great successor. Again, though — like “The Shards,” it’s a great excuse to watch wealthy, gorgeous young people get into absurd situations.

If you’re looking for something as deliciously twisted and heightened as “The Shards” but are looking to, frankly, have even more fun, you definitely want to binge-watch all of the original “Gossip Girl” series. Based extremely loosely on the young adult novel series by Cecily von Ziegesar (which in turn were, similar to “The Shards,” based similarly loosely on her experiences at privileged New York preparatory schools), “Gossip Girl” opens its story as teenage socialite Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) unexpectedly returns to Manhattan’s Upper East Side after a stint at a New England boarding school, surprising everyone — especially her best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), who happily stepped into Serena’s place as queen bee in her absence. Equally shocked are Blair’s boyfriend and Serena’s secret lover Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), Brooklyn outcast Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and his social-climbing sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen), and bad boy Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick).

“Gossip Girl” is, in the very best way, actively insane. Sure, things start innocuously enough — the “weirdest” thing about the show’s early seasons, besides the teenage characters wantonly drinking at a variety of New York City bars while understage, is that new couple Dan and Serena have to deal with the romantic history between Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle) and Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) — but by the time we get into the back half of the show’s 6 seasons, things go delightfully off the rails. (Blair marries a prince! Dan writes a tell-all book about his friends! Chuck owns a hotel before his 21st birthday!) Take our word for it, though, and embrace the absurdity; “Gossip Girl” is totally worth it, thanks in very large part to Meester’s unbelievable central performance as the wise-cracking, brilliant Blair. The 2021 reboot, though? That’s a skip.

Veronica Mars, the titular teen detective played by Kristen Bell, has lived many lives — between three TV seasons, a crowd-funded movie in 2014, and a likely final fourth Hulu season in 2019 — but if you love “The Shards,” revisit the original UPN series that made Bell into a star. When we first meet Bell’s Veronica, she’s having  a rough time. First, her entire world is upended when her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried in flashbacks) is brutally murdered at her home; in the aftermath of Lilly’s death, Veronica’s boyfriend and Lilly’s brother Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) abruptly stops talking to Veronica. As the small and fictional California town of Neptune is rocked by a teenage girl’s murder, Veronica’s dad and Neptune’s sheriff Keith Mars (a spectacular Enrico Colantoni) accuses Lilly’s father, tech magnate Jake Kane (Kyle Secor), of the murder, only to be fired in disgrace. Oh, and if all of this wasn’t bad enough, Veronica has another mystery to solve: the identity of the person who drugged and subsequently sexually assaulted her at a high school party.

Bell’s snappy, smart voiceover keeps “Veronica Mars” feeling breezy even when it tackles extremely dark topics, and with supporting turns from Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs III, and Tina Majorino as bad boy Logan Echolls and Veronica’s friends Wallace and Mac, respectively, you’ll be hooked. As for “The Shards,” it’s streaming on Hulu now.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).