Deadline has reported that Ripley, the upcoming drama series based on The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, has moved from Showtime to Netflix. The jump to Netflix is still being finalized, but it comes as Showtime begins to merge with Paramount+.
Ripley stars Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, “a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, who is hired by a wealthy man to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf, who is living a comfortable, trust-funded ex-pat life in Italy, to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.” Johnny Flynn plays Dickie Greenleaf, with Dakota Fanning also starring as Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie Tom’s affability. When Showtime began focusing on building out their pre-existing franchises, such as multiple spinoffs of Dexter and Billions, the Ripley team began exploring their options. Sources told Deadline that Netflix snapped up the series after reviewing some footage.
The Ripley series is in the early stages of post-production, so we’re still a ways off from its launch. It was looking at a late 2023-early 2024 premiere on Showtime, which still appears to be the case. The eight-episode series comes to us from The Night Of‘s Steven Zaillian, who wrote the directed every episode. Although Ripley was designed as a limited series, there’s a chance it could return for another season if it’s a hit. Patricia Highsmith wrote several Ripley novels in addition to The Talented Mr. Ripley, including Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Underwater.
Tom Ripley has been portrayed on the big screen several times over the decades, with Alain Delon playing the role in Purple Noon back in 1960, Dennis Hopper in 1977’s The American Friend, Matt Damon in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, John Malkovich in 2002’s Ripley’s Game, and by Barry Pepper in 2005’s Ripley Under Ground. Anthony Minghella’s 1999 adaptation remains one of my favourites, so I’m excited to see what Steven Zaillian and Andrew Scott bring to this expanded version of the story.