The Shards Finale Puts Susan and the Rest of the Cast Under Suspicion

FX’s The Shards has reached the end of its first season, but instead of answering its biggest question, the finale has made almost everyone look guilty. 

Episode 9, “Stairway to Heaven”, released on September 9, 2026, on FX and Hulu, ends with police bringing Bret, Susan, Robert, and several other characters together as suspects in the Trawler murders. The series, created by Ryan Murphy and based on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, is set in 1981 Los Angeles and follows a group of wealthy teenagers whose lives become tangled with a serial killer.

The finale also introduces another mystery when Terry Schaffer is pushed from a balcony at a Halloween party. No one knows who attacked him, leaving viewers with two major questions instead of one: who is the Trawler, and who tried to kill Terry?

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Susan Is Now Part of The Mystery

Susan Reynolds, played by Kaia Gerber, spends much of the season caught between her friendships, her relationship with Thom, and her growing connection with Robert Mallory. The finale makes her situation more dangerous when she is attacked by the Trawler inside her own home.

Susan escapes and later arrives at the Halloween party, where the danger follows the group. Her inclusion among the suspects is significant because the show has largely presented her as someone caught in the middle rather than as a likely killer.

Gerber has also admitted that she does not know who the Trawler is. Speaking about the finale, she said she has her own suspicion, but described it as “not an obvious one”.

Terry's Fall Creates Another Mystery

The new development comes at the Halloween party when Terry Schaffer is pushed from the second-floor balcony. The episode begins by showing Terry's fall before returning to the events leading up to it.

By the end, viewers still don't know who pushed him. Terry's enemies include several people around him, giving the writers another mystery that can carry into a potential second season.

Executive producer Brad Simpson explained that Terry's fall is a deliberate change in how the television adaptation uses the material from Ellis' novel. In the book, the incident becomes part of the story that follows. The series instead uses it as its season-ending mystery. This explains why the finale looks less like an ending and more like a reset of the investigation.