Get this in your head now: there’s an upcoming series titled Ripley, but it’s not the impending Noah Hawley Alien show (nor Fede Alvarez’s upcoming Alien movie). No, this Ripley is of ‘The Talented Mr.’ type, with Andrew Scott playing a fresh screen incarnation of the devilishly smart (and, well, devilishly devilish) con man originally penned by Patricia Highsmith. This version comes from Steve Zaillian – previously behind HBO’s top-notch crime drama The Night Of, as well as a host of great movie scripts (Schindler’s List! Gangs Of New York! The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo!) – and is a direct adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. It’s currently positioned as a limited series, but with the potential for future seasons if Netflix, Zaillian and Scott feel moved to adapt more of Highsmith’s Ripley tomes. For now, here’s a tantalising teaser of what Ripley has in store:
Looks intense, right? First up, it’s canny timing for Netflix to unveil this teaser, given Scott is going to be at the forefront of everyone’s minds as All Of Us Strangers hits UK screens this Friday. And as we know from his extensive résumé, he’s excellent at playing magnetically dangerous men – prime casting, then, for Ripley, who can lie his way into any situation, and kill his way out of it if needs be. The series has Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf – the directionless American gallivanting around Europe, who Ripley is tasked with bringing back to his family in the US – and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood, Dickie’s girlfriend who becomes entangled in Ripley’s web. Most enticingly, there’s gorgeous monochromatic photography here – and that’s set to continue in the show itself, which will be presented entirely in crisp black-and-white.
Find out how Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf’s sunny European summer plays out when Ripley hits Netflix on 4 April.