Andrew Scott shuts down fan hopes of second season of his ‘spellbinding’ Netflix thriller

Andrew Scott has poured cold water on fan hopes for a second season of his critically acclaimed Netflix thriller Ripley.

Reflecting back on his three-decade-plus career at the SXSW film festival in Texas over the weekend, the Irish actor said that playing notorious, fictional psychopathic criminal Tom Ripley in 2024 was “very challenging”.

The eight-part, black-and-white series was based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, previously adapted into the five-time Oscar-nominated film of the same name.

In Netflix’s TV version, BAFTA winner Scott played the charming and enigmatic con artist. Johnny Flynn played Dickie Greenleaf, the man whose identity Ripley steals after he is sent to Italy by Dickie’s father to bring him back home. Dakota Fanning played Marge Sherwood, Dickie’s girlfriend.

“I’ve never really done any kind of long-form television and that was very challenging, actually,” Scott told Deadline during the conversation.

“I learned a lot. It was a difficult thing to do. We shot during the pandemic in Italy. The whole world was shutting down. I was playing a very isolated character. And it’s quite unusual for a television program to have one character.”

Scott, also known for hit turns in TV shows including Sherlock and Fleabag, said that he found the character of Tom Ripley “quite difficult to access” as the cold-blooded killer is, thankfully, “very unlike” him.

Questioned on whether there would likely be a second season of Ripley, Scott answered fairly firmly.

“No, that’s not going to happen now,” he said.

Ripley was a critical success following its release in April 2024, amassing an impressive 86 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.1 out of 10 on IMDb.

Despite its strong critical response, with critics dubbing it “spellbinding” and “gorgeous”, it didn’t fare spectacularly in terms of viewership figures. In its first four days, it garnered 2.3 million ‘complete viewing equivalents’ according to data from What’s On Netflix. At the time, it was the worst ever figure for a limited series released on a Thursday. 

That said, it did manage almost 17 million viewing hours in its first full week and more than 18 million in its second, and remained in Netflix’s top ten English-language series for two weeks. 

Besides, Scott likely hasn’t had time to fit a second season of Ripley into his schedule. He recently wrapped filming on thriller movie ​​A Place in Hell, plus Ian Charleson biopic Elsinore, which he’ll star in alongside Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and Joe Locke.

Ripley is streaming now on Netflix.

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