Andrew Scott will return to television as the star of a new US series inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels.
British actor, who gained widespread fame as “the Hot Priest” in the second series of Fleabag, will play the ruthless Sixties grifter in a series for Showtime Television titled Ripley.
Steven Zaillian, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York and Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming period drama The Irishman, will write and direct all eight episodes of the series.
According to Variety, the series will draw from five of Highsmith’s Ripley novels: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley’s Game, Ripley Under Ground, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Underwater.
“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,” the network’s entertainment president Gary Levine said in a statement.
“With Andrew Scott, whose charisma knows no bounds, inhabiting the iconic lead role, we feel confident that this will be a special one.”
Ripley will be the latest adaptation of Highsmith’s novels, the character most famously immortalised by Matt Damon in the acclaimed, Oscar-nominated 1999 thriller The Talented Mr Ripley.
Actors including Dennis Hopper, John Malkovich and Alain Delon have all played Ripley in previous adaptations.
Ripley, which will go into production next year, currently has no confirmed broadcast date.
