FX’s The Beauty was ready and willing to stun at New York Comic Con, as attendees at the show’s panel got a first sneak peek at the new Ryan Murphy series. Based on the Image Comics book by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, the new series stars Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, Rebecca Hall and Ashton Kutcher — all of whom were on hand to talk about the new show.
Here’s the official synopsis of the panel, followed by our recap of the big news items:
Be among the first to catch a sneak-peek of FX’s “The Beauty,” a new international thriller from executive producer, writer, and director Ryan Murphy. Join stars Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, Rebecca Hall and Ashton Kutcher as they discuss filming the sci-fi action series across New York, Paris, Venice and Rome. Based on the comic books of the same name by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, a sexually transmitted virus makes those affected more beautiful, but with deadly consequences. FX’s “The Beauty” premieres on Hulu in early 2026.
That out of the way time to stop reflecting like a beautiful person looking in a mirror, and get to the panel. First up was a promo for the show, which seems to tweak the concept from the comics — from an out of control STD, to one controlled and crafted by Kutcher’s character, who seems to be a tech billionaire. Also the show looks very Ryan Murphy, over the top with plenty of violence and sex, and Kutcher being over the top. Last line in the trailer? “Who wants a poke?” as Kutcher gleefully brandishes two needles.
Then the cast came out, with a huge pop for Peters in particular. Then Murphy talked about his inspiration. “What would happen if incredibly powerful billionaires get together to create a fountain of youth drug that only they can use… Of course, since it’s a sci-fi show, you only last 855 days or so, and then you explode and it’s all over.”
Murphy continued to explain that, “There’s a rash of exploding supermodels all over the globe, that are caught on phone cameras,” which is how Peters and Hall’s characters get called in to investigate. Murphy then explained that he looked to Kutcher to explain the business of this, if it was real — which is kind of is, given people are working on different “immortality” type drugs.
Kutcher then broke down the multi-billionaire dollar businesses that are working on it right now, quoting that it would be “a ten trillionaire dollar company if it existed today.”
Murphy teases that you’ll need four episodes to figure out who in the cast has The Beauty, and who does not, adding that the first three episodes will drop on premiere day.
Then Murphy asked who on the cast would take The Beauty, and who would not. Kutcher said without the side effects, absolutely. “When you’re 25 and you wake up, NOTHING HURTS,” yelled Kutcher.
As for Ramos? “I ain’t taking this pill, I love myself.”
Murphy then explained that one of the side effects of The Beauty is that you don’t know what age you will be reduced to. You could be 25, you could go back to age eight.
Moving on to casting, Murphy talked about casting people against their image. By example, he explained why he put Peters in the role. The simple answer? To give him something different.
“I wanted Evan to play this part because he gets to be Steve McQueen, he gets the girl, he saves the day,” Murphy explained. “So I think this will be exciting for people because you will not be villainous in any way.”
Ramos on the other hand is an assassin who wears a silver eye-patch and Tom Ford, “which also goes against expectation,” Murphy said.
Hall, meanwhile, noted she’s lost roles for being too tall, and Pope has lost roles for being Black.
Murphy recalled that when he was directing the pilot, there was a day when Pope was covered in “thirty pounds of KY lubricant… We bought all the KY in New York.” Pope quipped, “I had a good time. I had a good time in the jelly,” to laughs from the audience. When Murphy asked how he got it off, Pope said, “I’m still getting it off!”
Then over to Kutcher, he also played against type as a “supervillain.” Kutcher added, “Every part you get is because of what you look like… There’s role I got because of how I looked, and there’s roles I didn’t get because of how I look.” He further added that there’s a frustration there, because he would often feel like he can do a role, but lost it because physically he wasn’t the right type. On The Beauty, playing against type allowed the cast to “embody insecurities… It’s an exhilarating thing as a performer.”
Setting up a clip, Murphy said that he’s never really gotten to do a big, international scope, so that’s what he wanted to do with The Beauty. Set in Venice, the scene features Peters and Hall investigating a model who hasn’t exploded — but has been “taken out.” The scene starts with a long, mostly silent (except for score) shot of the duo on a boat coming into a canal. They see someone dressed like a plague doctor, and keep on going. Once they arrive at the scene, Madsen and Bennett (Peters and Hall) are presented with hazmat suits; the virus isn’t airborne, but they are being cautious.
When they arrive, they find the model has had her chest skin graphically peeled away, her ribcage and organs exposed, to look like a flower (or one of the covers of The Beauty comic, to be frank). On the wall is an Egyptian hieroglyph that means — what else — “beauty.”
Ending the clip, Murphy told Ramos he’s been a “bad, bad boy” so I think we know who killed the model. But getting back to the behind the scenes, Murphy talked to Peters about learning multiple languages for the show (they speak Italian in the clip). It was, as you can imagine, a lot of work. Hall, meanwhile, was stunned by shooting in Venice given they were taken everywhere in water taxis.
Murphy then noted that he was disappointed because he thought he was going to eat at delicious restaurants every night, but everyone was holding off eating because they had intimate scenes.
“I don’t know what you were talking about, I was eating my ass off,” Ramos quipped.
Moving on, Murphy plugged there’s action, romance, mystery, and more. “When I talk about this show I feel like Stefon from Saturday Night Live because this… show… has.. it… all,” Murphy said.
He then jumped to talking about the transformation. When you take The Beauty, you don’t know when it’s going to hit, but then you collapse into a pile of goo. “We called it the flesh sacks,” said Murphy, adding this is followed by a “rebirth.” There apparently was a lot of studying of toddler movements to figure out what happens after the rebirth.
Also in the show, though not here tonight, is Isabella Rossellini. She plays Kutcher’s wife, which was weird for him because he was deferential to the international icon.
Next clip? Kutcher’s character talking about how he will stop at nothing to market his new pharmaceutical. “I’m giving them an injectable instagram filter,” yells Kutcher, stomping through the halls and talking about the “attention economy.”
Going back to Murphy, beyond the initial injection you need to come back for boosters every two weeks — or you explode. Yet still, Kutcher believes his character is trying to do the right thing. He talked about how it’s okay to get braces, but not rhinoplasty. “Why is it okay to make our teeth better, but not our nose better, or our face better?” Kutcher thinks the tide is changing where it’s starting to become okay to get cosmetic enhancements.
Murphy agreed, saying that there’s less judgement by the month about getting procedures done, and how much that’s changed since Nip/Tuck.
“It’s David and Goliath,” Kutcher explained about tech billionaires, “people feel helpless against” the billionaires who they feel are telling them what to do and how to think. “Some of those people should be vilified because they are making decisions that are not in the public benefit, and some of those people should not be vilified because they are making decisions that are in the public benefit.”
Then it was time for the last clip, which is Ramos singing along to Christopher Cross’ “Sailing” while his passenger (Pope) tries to jump out of the car. Instead, Ramos explains the whole history of Cross. Murphy added this scene just because he knew Ramos was from Broadway, and he needed to have a scene of him singing. The rest of the scene has Ramos forcing Pope to get him into a house at gunpoint where, in the upstairs bathroom, they find a bloody, cracked mirror… Then in the kitchen, one of those flesh sacks, and a crazed woman who attacks them until Pope knocks her out with a frying pan. The context, Murphy shared, is the woman has been given The Beauty against her will.
Getting back to the panel again, Ramos and Pope explained that was their first day on set filming, but they’ve known each other for 15 years: they went to school together.
And that was it! Though he said “it’s not official,” The Beauty will be released on Hulu in the third week of January, 2026.
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