Ripley Trailer Released by Netflix

Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for Ripley, the streaming service’s upcoming psychological thriller limited series starring Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley. Based on the 1955 crime The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (the same novel that became the Academy Award-nominated 1999 Matt Damon movie), the series also stars Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning. Written and directed by award-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (The Irishman, The Night Of), the eight-episode series set in 1960s Italy had been created for Showtime before being sold to Netflix. Ripley is set to debut on Netflix in April 2024.

Ripley embraces the era of its story with its black-and-white cinematography, a familiar trope from Zallian, who also wrote Schindler’s List. The Ripley trailer is embedded below.

What is Ripley about?

As in the original novel, Ripley sees con man Tom Ripley traveling Italy to convince Dickie Greenleaf, the wayward son of a wealthy family, to return to New York City to take up the family business, but there’s much more hidden beneath the surface. Here’s the official synopsis from Netflix:

“Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man 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, fraud, and murder. The limited series drama is based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling Tom Ripley novels.”

Who is in the Ripley cast?

Andrew Scott stars as Tom Ripley in Ripley. Johnny Flynn plays Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning plays Marge Sherwood, Greenleaf’s girlfriend who is suspicious of Ripley.

“I feel like you’re required to love and advocate for your characters, and your job is to go, Why? What’s that? You don’t play the opinions, the previous attitudes that people might have about Tom Ripley,” Scott said of the role during an interview with Vanity Fair last 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 version and my own understanding of the character.”

Showtime and Endemol Shine North America co-produced Ripley with Entertainment 360 and Filmrights. Steven Zaillian, Garrett Basch, Clayton Townsend, Guymon Casady, Ben Forkner, Sharon Levy, and Philipp Keel of Diogenes are the show’s executive producers. Scott serves as a producer. Zallian wrote and directed eight episodes of Ripley.

“[Multiple episodes] allowed me to be more faithful to the story, tone, and subtleties of Highsmith’s work,” Zaillian told Vanity Fair. “[I] tried to approach my adaptation in a way I imagined she might herself.”

What’s coming to Netflix in 2024?

Ripley is but one of several highly anticipated Netflix shows debuting or returning in 2024. The streamer’s long-gestating live-action will debut in February. The Three-Body Problem, the latest adaptation of a beloved series of speculative fiction novels from the creators of Game of Thrones, will debut in March. Dead Boy Detectives, a series based on characters Neil Gaiman created for DC,  debuts in April. Bridgerton, split into two parts, in May and June. Later this year, The Umbrella Academy and Cobra Kai will return for their respective final seasons.

Ripley premieres on Netflix on April 4, 2024.