Dakota Fanning’s Hit 8-Part Netflix Crime Thriller Series Gets Disappointing Season 2 Return Update

Ripley wowed critics when it streamed back in 2024, but the Andrew Scott-led suspense show nonetheless wrapped up with its future very much up in the air. Now, a new Ripley season 2 update would appear to have ended any further speculation about Netflix bringing the show back.

Scott himself delivered the bad news in a recent interview (via Deadline), tersely revealing the show’s fate. “No, that’s not going to happen now,” he revealed when asked if season 2 was still a possibility.

Based upon the same Patricia Highsmith novel that inspired the 1999 Matt Damon thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley, Netflix’s Ripley starred Scott as the story’s enigmatic central character, and Fanning as one of the victims of his devious scheming.

Highsmith wrote a grand total of five Ripley books, and it has been speculated that Scott could return to star as the author’s most famous character in another adaptation. Ripley creator Steven Zaillian indeed addressed that exact possibility in an April 2024 interview, expressing interest in adapting another of the books (via Collider).

“Tom Ripley goes through a lot of changes over the course of the five books, and they’re all interesting, so, yeah, absolutely,” Zaillian said when asked about Ripley season 2. “And there have been movies made about the other books, too. So, given the right circumstances, yes.”

Critics bestowed heaps of praise upon Ripley season 1, which currently sits at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. Just last month, ScreenRant revisited the Emmy-winning show and proclaimed it “one of the greatest original series” ever produced by Netflix.

“What Ripley arguably does better than any other onscreen Ripley adaptation before it is explore the detailed depths of Ripley’s psyche as demonstrated through his pathology,” the article continues, adding, “Much of the tension for the viewer exists in knowing exactly what Ripley is capable of and maintaining an unsettling degree of suspense through each of his interactions, like watching a snake hiding in the grass.”

Ripley’s performance on Netflix may not have been blockbuster-level, but the show did pull decent numbers upon its premiere, racking up 16.9 million hours viewed in its first week, and 18.4 million in its second week. Being a strong streaming performer and a critical darling with four more books of material to potentially adapt was seemingly not enough to convince Netflix that Ripley should get a season 2.