Andrew Scott to star as devilishly dark scammer in Netflix’s Ripley

Red alert! Netflix has just teased a first look at Andrew Scott as the infamously obsessive scam artist Tom Ripley for its new limited series Ripley.

Yes, the character, written by Patricia Highsmith and first brought to the screen by Matt Damon in 1999’s The Talented Mr Ripley, is back for more, this time in the form of dreamy Irish actor Andrew Scott.

In a new eight-part series from Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Zaillian will arrive to Netflix in 2024.

In case you weren’t already excited about Ripley, the limited series will also star Johnny Flynn as spoiled heir Dickie Greenleaf, who becomes the object of Ripley’s obsession, and Dakota Fanning as Dickie’s enigmatic girlfriend Marge Sherwood.

For those unfamiliar, The Talented Mr Ripley, written by Highsmith in 1955, tells the story of a poor young Tom Ripley who tries to make ends meet through low-level scams.

One day, Ripley gets his big break when a wealthy tycoon asks for his help in tracking down his playboy son Dickie, believing that he and Ripley are close friends, and convincing him to come back to America.

When Ripley meets and befriends Dickie and his girlfriend Marge in Italy, he quickly becomes obsessed and craves the lavish dolce vita lifestyle they have been living – and he’ll go to extremes to make sure he gets it.

Speaking to Vanity Fair about the “absolutely enormous role”, Scott said that Ripley is among the most challenging roles he has played.

Scott is no stranger to playing dark characters – after all, he got tongues wagging with his portrayal of Jim Moriarty in Sherlock – but Ripley is a whole other kettle of fish.

“It was a heavy part to play. I found it mentally and physically really hard. That’s just the truth of it,” he said.

“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. 

“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.”

Comparing it to his recent role as Adam in the highly anticipated romantic fantasy All Of Us Strangers, Scott said: “I suppose the journey to understanding [Adam] was a less arduous one than trying to understand what Tom Ripley does. 

“Certain things I can understand, but other things – it’s actually the blankness that’s sometimes hard to engage with.”

Meanwhile, Steven Zaillian said of the project: “Tom Ripley is a part of our consciousness. 

“Almost 70 years after Highsmith created him, contemporary figures are still being compared to him. He won’t go away.”

As one might have guessed, fans are just a little bit excited about this one…