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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Netflix’s Ripley trailer presents Tom Ripley as a polished, patient and profoundly dangerous liar. Andrew Scott’s character moves from precarious circumstances in early-1960s New York into the wealthy world of Dickie Greenleaf in Italy, where a seemingly simple assignment develops into fraud, impersonation, murder and an increasingly dangerous effort to escape detection.
The black-and-white imagery gives the series a severe, almost architectural look, while the trailer’s focus on passports, police attention and suspicious encounters makes clear that this is not simply a glamorous story about a con artist. It is a slow-burn psychological crime drama about performance, class desire and the practical consequences of trying to steal another person’s life.
Watch the Ripley trailer with the right expectations
Netflix released an official teaser for Ripley on February 12, 2024, followed by the full trailer on March 4, 2024. The teaser introduced Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley and announced the series’ April 4 premiere. The full trailer expanded the premise, including the striking description of Tom as “a liar by profession.”
That wording captures the central appeal of the adaptation. Tom is not presented as a criminal who relies only on sudden violence or improvisation. He observes people, studies their habits and adapts his identity to whatever social situation might benefit him. His real talent is making deception look ordinary.
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Netflix released all eight episodes in the United States on April 4, 2024. The series is therefore a completed limited series rather than an upcoming release. Netflix classifies it as a 2024, TV-MA limited thriller.
What happens in Netflix’s Ripley?
The series adapts Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. In Netflix’s version, Tom is a grifter scraping by in New York when a wealthy man hires him to travel to Italy and persuade his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf, to return home.
Tom accepts the assignment, but contact with Dickie’s life exposes him to a world of money, leisure and social privilege that he has previously been denied. The trailer suggests that his mission quickly becomes less about delivering a message and more about finding a way to remain inside that world.
Passports, assumed identities and suspicious conversations point to the mechanics of the con. Meanwhile, police attention and the questions raised by Marge Sherwood make the danger more immediate. The dramatic question is not simply whether Tom will commit a crime. It is whether he can perform a new identity convincingly enough to survive the investigation that follows.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe “Saltburn” comparison: useful, but limited
The trailer arrived during a period when audiences were particularly interested in stories about outsiders entering wealthy, insulated social circles. That is why coverage compared Ripley with Saltburn, Emerald Fennell’s 2023 film.
The comparison works at the level of theme. Both stories involve class aspiration, fascination with privilege and a socially marginal figure penetrating an elite environment. In both cases, wealth is not merely a backdrop; it becomes an object of desire and a source of moral danger.
But Ripley is not a sequel, remake or direct response to Saltburn. It is an adaptation of Highsmith’s crime novel, published decades before Fennell’s film. Its specific narrative is built around identity fraud, deception and murder, while Saltburn is an original film. The safest way to describe the relationship is as a cultural or thematic parallel, not a shared franchise or plot.
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Andrew Scott’s Tom Ripley is quieter than a conventional villain
Andrew Scott’s performance appears to make Tom unsettling through restraint rather than constant theatricality. The trailer emphasizes his watchfulness and adaptability: he studies the people around him, enters unfamiliar spaces and attempts to make himself appear as though he belongs there.
That approach suits Highsmith’s character. Tom is socially adaptive and morally amoral, capable of presenting different versions of himself depending on what a situation demands. His danger comes partly from the gap between his controlled exterior and the increasingly destructive choices required to maintain it.
The trailer does not establish a clinical diagnosis or settle every question about Tom’s psychology, sexuality or motives. Those interpretations require the full series and should not be treated as confirmed simply because a promotional scene invites speculation.
What the trailer reveals about Marge and the investigation
Dakota Fanning plays Marge Sherwood, and the trailer positions her as one of the people least willing to accept Tom’s performance at face value. Her suspicion creates an important counterforce to his ability to manipulate more trusting characters.
Detectives and police attention also appear throughout the promotional material. Their presence signals that the series is interested in what happens after the crime: the cover-up, the inconsistencies, the missing explanations and the logistical problems created by impersonation.
This is one of the adaptation’s clearest points of difference in emphasis from a conventional glamorous con-artist thriller. Tom may enjoy access to beautiful locations and expensive surroundings, but the story keeps returning to practical questions. Where is he? What name is he using? Who can verify his story? What evidence might connect him to the crime?
Why Ripley is in black and white
The black-and-white presentation is a defining creative choice, not a temporary trailer filter. Director of photography Robert Elswit and the production team used the format to recreate a 1960s aesthetic while shaping the series’ atmosphere of control, distance and moral severity.
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The Italian locations, including the Amalfi Coast, construct the world Tom wants to enter. Yet the monochrome photography prevents that world from becoming straightforward travel-poster glamour. Stone buildings, narrow streets, interiors and coastal landscapes become part of a controlled visual system in which beauty can feel as threatening as it is seductive.
Steven Zaillian wrote and directed all eight episodes. His credits include Schindler’s List, Moneyball, The Irishman and HBO’s limited series The Night Of. That background helps explain the trailer’s attention to crime, procedure and aftermath rather than treating the murder plot as a single sensational turning point.
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Cast and creative team
- Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley
- Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood
- Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf
- Eliot Sumner
- Maurizio Lombardi
- Margherita Buy
- John Malkovich
- Kenneth Lonergan
- Ann Cusack
Zaillian serves as creator, writer and director across the limited series, with Elswit as director of photography. Together, their choices suggest an adaptation that values formal discipline and psychological pressure over rapid twists.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is the source—not the 1999 film
Netflix’s series is based on Highsmith’s first Tom Ripley novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, published in 1955. The novel introduced Ripley as an amoral, socially flexible con man whose pursuit of wealth and status leads to identity theft, deception and murder.
If you want to read the book behind the series, The Talented Mr. Ripley book is the most direct place to begin. Highsmith’s original novel is the primary source for the first season, although the Netflix adaptation expands the material into eight episodes and adopts its own visual and tonal identity.
Highsmith ultimately wrote five novels centered on Tom Ripley. Readers who want to continue beyond the first story can look for the complete Ripley trilogy containing The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground and Ripley’s Game, then explore the later books in the sequence. The existence of those later novels does not mean that every book is adapted in Netflix’s first season.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →The series is also not a remake of the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley. Anthony Minghella’s film starred Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett and is the most familiar previous English-language screen version of Highsmith’s novel. Both productions draw from the same source, but Netflix’s version is an eight-episode limited series with a markedly different pace, visual style and emphasis.
How the Netflix series differs in approach from the 1999 adaptation
The 1999 film compresses Highsmith’s story into a feature-length dramatic arc and is often remembered for its starry cast, romantic tension and lush presentation. Netflix’s Ripley has more room to linger on travel, concealment and the routines required to sustain a false identity.
Its black-and-white photography also changes the emotional temperature. Rather than presenting Italy as a purely seductive escape, the series uses the setting to heighten the contrast between Tom’s fantasy of belonging and the danger of being exposed there.
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The distinction matters for viewers deciding what to watch. Those seeking a direct scene-for-scene remake of the 1999 film may be surprised. Those interested in a slower, more procedural examination of how a con works—and how difficult it is to cover up a murder—are closer to the series’ intended experience.
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Ripley received substantial recognition during the 2024 awards cycle. Andrew Scott was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and the series appeared in the Television Academy’s limited-series nominations. Netflix’s winners coverage records awards for the production in cinematography, visual effects and sound-related categories.
Those honors align with the show’s strongest formal qualities. The compositions, black-and-white photography and carefully controlled movement are not decorative additions to the crime story; they are central to how the series makes Tom’s world feel beautiful, artificial and increasingly unstable.
What to know before watching
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is Ripley a film or series? | It is an eight-episode limited thriller series. |
| When was it released? | Netflix released all eight episodes in the United States on April 4, 2024. |
| Is it based on a book? | Yes. It is based primarily on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. |
| Is it a remake of the Matt Damon film? | No. Both adaptations are based on Highsmith’s novel, but they are separate productions. |
| Is a second season confirmed? | Netflix’s official materials covered by the available research do not announce a second season. The program is marketed as a limited series. |
| Why is it black and white? | The production intentionally recreated a 1960s aesthetic and used monochrome photography as a core stylistic and dramatic choice. |
Spoiler note: The trailer establishes the broad crime premise, but it does not justify claims about the series’ exact ending. Readers who have only seen the trailer should avoid assuming that every promotional image reveals the final outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Netflix’s Ripley about the same Tom Ripley as the 1999 movie?
Yes, both versions center on Tom Ripley and adapt Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. Netflix’s show is a separate eight-episode adaptation, not a remake of the 1999 film.
Is Ripley connected to Saltburn?
No. The works are not formally connected. The comparison refers to their shared interest in outsiders entering wealthy social worlds and the danger created by class aspiration.
How many episodes does Ripley have?
The completed Netflix limited series has eight episodes, all released in the United States on April 4, 2024.
What book should I read before watching Ripley?
Start with Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the primary literary source for the series. Highsmith later wrote four additional Ripley novels.
The Bottom Line
Ripley uses the familiar story of an outsider entering a rich man’s world, but its trailer promises something colder and more methodical than a conventional social-climbing thriller. Andrew Scott’s Tom Ripley is less a flashy mastermind than a careful performer whose stolen identity demands constant maintenance. The “Saltburn” comparison explains the class-infiltration appeal, but Highsmith’s novel remains the real foundation—and Netflix’s black-and-white, eight-episode adaptation makes the crime, the cover-up and the investigation its central subjects.
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