Neil Cross to Bring The Talented Mr. Ripley to Series

LOS ANGELES: Neil Cross (Luther) is adapting Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels, the acclaimed books that begin with The Talented Mr. Ripley, as a series.

The series will be produced by Entertainment 360, Diogenes (Highsmith’s Zurich-based publisher and agency) and Endemol Shine Studios, the scripted division of Endemol Shine North America. The three companies have partnered to develop Highsmith’s Tom Ripley books, often referred to as The Ripliad, as a series.

Cross is the creator and writer of the hit BBC crime series Luther. He also wrote the international hit horror movie MAMA and has written multiple episodes of Doctor Who.

Guymon Casady and Ben Forkner will executive produce for Television 360. Philipp Keel will executive produce for Diogenes. Lifelong fans of the Ripley books, Casady and Forkner built a relationship with Keel and Diogenes, which evolved into a creative partnership to develop the novels together as a series. There are five novels in the series, beginning with The Talented Mr. Ripley, and followed by Ripley Underground (1970), Ripley’s Game (1974), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980) and Ripley Under Water (1991).

There have been Ripley feature adaptations in the past: from René Clément’s Purple Noon (1960) to Wim Wender’s The American Friend (1977) to Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), which starred Matt Damon and Jude Law.