Some characters are so bad they’re good, and that is especially true of the infamous Tom Ripley. Author Patricia Highsmith’s charming and sophisticated conman without a conscience has long fascinated readers and viewers alike. Now he’s set to return to screens again in Netflix’s Ripley. And the show’s first trailer introducing Andrew Scott’s con artist killer has us prepared to excuse all of his crimes.
A beautiful and ominous setting? A world-class leading man? And an origin story for a truly memorable character? This trailer for Netflix’s new eight-part limited series has everything. That includes the Academy Award-winning writer of Schindler’s List behind it. The show comes from writer-director Steven Zaillian (The Irishman). Here’s the show’s official synopsis from Netflix:
Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), 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 drama series is based on Patricia Highsmith’s bestselling Tom Ripley novels.
Ripley also stars Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood and Johnny Flynn Dickie Greenleaf. It also features Elliot Sumner, Maurizio Lombardi, and Margherita Buy. And rounding out the cast is the great John Malkovich, who also played Tom Ripley himself in 2002’s Ripley’s Game. The series debuts on the streaming site this spring on April 4.
Scott is now the eight performer to bring the character from the page to the screen. The others to do so include Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Jonathan Kent, Barry Pepper, and Ian Hart. If the show is anywhere near as good as this trailer we expect Scott’s Tom Ripley to be among the very best versions of a character who’s so bad he’s too good not to like.