Key Insights
- Record Viewership: Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty has broken viewership records before its premiere.
- Thriller Elements: The show involves mysterious deaths in the fashion world, capturing audience intrigue.
- Release Details: It will debut with three episodes on January 21 on FX and Hulu.
- High Engagement: The trailer has garnered 190 million views, making it the highest-viewed trailer for an FX series.
Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty has already broken a viewership record before its debut. Unfolding in the world of fashion, with models dying mysteriously, the latest genre outing from the prolific creator comes mere months after the premiere of his Kim Kardashian-led legal drama All’s Fair. Despite nearly unanimous negative reviews, the Hulu show attracted strong viewership and was renewed for season 2.
Led by American Horror Story veteran Evan Peters and The Night House star Rebecca Hall, The Beauty is Murphy’s next project under his deal with Disney. It will premiere with three episodes on January 21 on FX, as well as Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally. But even before its official bow, the thriller has already left a mark.
Deadline reports that the trailer for The Beauty, which features That ’70s Show alum Ashton Kutcher, has already garnered 190 million views across social media since it was released on January 5. The trailer sees Kutcher’s character push a miracle drug that ends up having horrifying consequences. It is the highest-viewed trailer ever for an FX series, though it’s unclear which show previously held the record.
The forthcoming FX drama consists of 11 episodes overall, with two episodes dropping each week until the finale. Because of its premise, it has drawn comparisons to Coralie Fargeat’s Oscar-nominated body horror film The Substance. However, The Beauty is based on the comic book by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, which was released in 2019.
The 11-part adaptation begins as the world of high fashion turns dark, with supermodels starting to die off in gruesome and unfathomable ways. This leads two FBI Agents, Cooper Madsen (played by Peters) and Jordan Bennett (played by Hall), to team up to get to the truth. They eventually uncover a sexually transmitted virus that transforms ordinary people into visions of physical perfection.
The transformation comes at a cost, however, as horrifying consequences soon emerge. Murphy co-created The Beauty with Matthew Hodgson, and the cast also includes Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and guest stars such as Bella Hadid, Billy Eichner, Isabella Rossellini, John Carroll Lynch, Meghan Trainor, Peter Gallagher, and Vincent D’Onofrio, among others.
Interest in a trailer doesn’t always translate to long-term investment in a show. Doctor Odyssey‘s fate at ABC is proof. Murphy co-created the medical soap, which racked up more than 77 million trailer views in just days prior to its 2024 premiere. It got off to a solid start, albeit it was ultimately shelved before season 2. It’s clear that The Beauty has passed the first test of going viral.
