The Biggest Difference Between Netflix's 'Ripley' and the 'Talented' Movie

Plus, everything you need to know about the new series starring Andrew Scott.

If last year’s unhinged Saltburn was not enough to sate your appetite for vaguely homoerotic, hyper class-conscious stories about conmen and grifters, then have no fear, for Netflix’s new Ripley limited series is finally here.

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s seminal series of Tom Ripley novels and written and directed by Oscar winner Steven Zallian, this updated take on the familiar grifter series finds Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) traveling to Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), a rich trust fund kid, to return to New York. Once in Italy, however, Tom quickly falls for this life of leisure himself and decides to do anything to maintain it, leaving a long line of dead bodies and stolen identities in his wake. A slow-burn thriller that interrogates matters of class, gender, and sexuality, this new version of Ripley is sure to be Netflix’s next hit.

Here’s everything we know about the new show.

How Can I Watch Ripley, and the Trailer?

Though Ripley was initially ordered by Showtime back in 2019, Netflix picked up the rights to the series last year, after all episodes had finished filming. All episodes are now streaming.

What Is Ripley About?

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s popular novels, Ripley, according to its official logline, follows “Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, [who] is hired by a wealthy businessman to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit.”

How Is the 'Ripley' Series Different Than 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' Movie?

Highsmith’s novels have been adapted for the screen before — most notably, for 1999’s Oscar-nominated The Talented Mr. Ripley. But unlike that Anthony Minghella classic, which starred Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Netflix’s Ripley is able to dive deeper into Tom Ripley’s inner-world. With eight hour-long episodes (instead of two hours), the series has much more room to breathe, allowing for plenty of new insights into this elusive character and his particular quirks.

Andrew Scott has also tried to separate his Tom Ripley from previous versions of the character. “You don’t play the opinions, the previous attitudes that people might have about Tom Ripley,” he told Vanity Fair earlier this year. “You have to throw all those out, try not to listen to them, and go, Okay, well, I have to have the courage to create our own vision and my own understanding of the character.”

Still, the biggest change is probably aesthetic. While The Talented Mr. Ripley captivated audiences with its vibrant color, capturing the beauty of summer in Italy (and of Matt Damon in a Speedo) with lush depictions of sunny beaches and expensive boats, Netflix’s Ripley strips all the color away, opting instead for striking black-and-white cinematography that immediately heightens the tension. The switch helps to highlight the original noir-inspired elements of Highsmith’s novels without sacrificing any of the visual grandeur of the story itself.

Who Is In the 'Ripley' Cast?

Ripley is led by the immensely talented Andrew Scott, who eagle-eyed television fans may recognize as the “Hot Priest” from Fleabag. Fresh off his starring role in last year’s devastating All of Us Strangers, Scott stars as Thomas “Tom” Ripley, a grifter and con-man who once again is hired to travel to Italy to convince the son of a wealthy man to return home to New York.

The son in question, Richard “Dickie” Greenleaf, is played by Johnny Flynn, who you may recognize from Emma. An aspiring artist who has developed a fondness for life on the Italian countryside despite his father’s wishes for him to take over the family business, Dickie is carefree and relaxed — at least until Tom Ripley somewhat mysteriously enters his life.

Dakota Fanning, meanwhile, plays Marge Sherwood, Dickie’s maybe-girlfriend, who has gotten used to her life in Italy with the youngest Greenleaf. While Dickie initially falls for Tom’s charms, Marge, an aspiring author, never gets used to Tom’s intrusion in their lives.

The cast is rounded out by musician-cum-actor Eliot Sumner as Freddie Miles, a friend of Dickie and Marge’s, who is immediately skeptical of Tom; Maurizio Lombardi as Pietro Ravini, an Italian inspector hired to investigate the murder of one of Tom’s victims; Margherita Buy as the landlord for a fancy apartment Tom rents in Venice; John Malkovich as Reeves Minot, who Tom meets at a swank party; and Kenneth Lonergan as Herbert Greenleaf, Dickie’s father, who is largely responsible for setting Tom on this destructive journey in the first place.

Will There Be More Ripley?

Ripley was ordered as a miniseries, so we can safely assume that these eight episodes mark the beginning and end of Tom Ripley’s story in this iteration. Of course, streaming companies love a hit, so depending on audience reception, it’s also possible that Netflix will choose to extend Tom’s story despite this. For now, there is no word of a continuation. But if there’s one thing we know about Tom Ripley, it’s that this con-man has an endless supply of new lives.

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