After playing the Hot Priest on newly-crowned Emmy winnerFleabag, Irish actorAndrew Scottis set to star in a newTalented Mr. RipleyTV series from Oscar winnerSteve Zaillianand Showtime, Collider has learned.
Showtime has ordered the first eight-episode season of the ongoing drama seriesRipley,based onPatricia Highsmith’s bestselling quintet of Tom Ripley novels. BAFTA Award winner Scott, who also played Moriarty onSherlock, will star in the title role. Zaillian will write and direct the entire first season as well as executive produce alongsideGarrett Basch,Guymon Casady,Ben Forkner,Sharon LevyandPhilipp Keelof Diogenes.
Scott will also serve as a producer on the series, which follows Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York who is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy and 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.
“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,” said network presidentGary Levine. “With Andrew Scott, whose charisma knows no bounds, inhabiting the iconic lead role, we feel confident that this will be a special one.”
The character was previously played byMatt Damonin the 1999 movieThe Talented Mr. Ripley, though sources stress that Showtime’sRipleyseries is a wholly original endeavor based on Highsmith’s books rather than a remake or reboot of the Ripley feature films, which also include 1960’sPurple NoonstarringAlain Delon, 1977’sThe American FriendstarringDennis Hopper, 2002’sRipley’s GamestarringJohn Malkovich, and 2005’sRipley Under GroundstarringBarry Pepper.
In addition toFleabagandSherlock, Scott’s credits includeHis Dark MaterialsandJohn Adamsfor HBO, theBlack MirrorepisodeSmithereens, and the TV moviesKing LearandHamlet. On the big screen, Scott has starred in the James Bond movieSpectre, Disney’sAlice in Wonderlandsequel, and theBrendan Higgins-scripted indie thrillerA Dark Place. Scott is represented by CAA, and by United Agents in the UK.
Zaillian won an Oscar for writingSchindler’s List, and also earned Oscar nominations forMoneyball,Gangs of New YorkandAwakenings. He also earned a pair of Emmy nominations for writing and directing HBO’s acclaimed limited seriesThe Night Of. TheRipleyseries is co-produced by Showtime and Endemol Shine North America in association with Entertainment 360 and Zaillian’s Film Rites banner.
