Andrew Scott, having played significant roles on Fleabag and Sherlock in the past, is no stranger to successful TV shows. He’s potentially signed on to one more. Scott will star in a new Talented Mr. Ripley series on Showtime. Oscar winner Steve Zaillian will write and direct the entire first season, which will consist of 8 episodes.
It will of course be based on Patricia Highsmith‘s bestselling quintet of Tom Ripley novels. The show will follow Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try and 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 character has had many incarnations. Purple Noon from the 60s starred Alain Delon, there was Wim Wenders‘ 1977 movie The American Friend, and 2002’s Ripley’s Game starred John Malkovich.
Though the most famous version is the 1999 one which starred Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. Sources stress that the new Showtime series is a new adaptation of Highsmith’s work and not a remake or reboot of any of these prior properties.
Showtime president Gary Levine said in a statement: “We are so thrilled to have the supremely talented filmmaker, Steve Zaillian, adapt the singular saga of Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith‘s novels as an ongoing series for Showtime. With Andrew Scott, whose charisma knows no bounds, inhabiting the iconic lead role, we feel confident that this will be a special one”.
Zaillian won an Oscar for writing Schindler’s List, which pretty much gets you cachet in Hollywood for life. He also wrote Moneyball, Gangs Of New York, and HBO’s limited series The Night Of. Pairing him with Scott, who has a very impressive screen presence, could be the recipe for something great.
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