Ripley ending explained

All eight episodes of new Netflix thriller Ripley are now streaming on Netflix, so here’s a breakdown of the show’s ending, and what that might mean for potential future seasons.

Ripley is an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. The show stars Irish actor Andrew Scott as the title character Tom, and we loved it, giving the series 4/5, and writing in the Dexerto review:

“Tom Ripley is a monster, and Steven Zaillian’s scripts skilfully put us in that monster’s shoes. And worse still, inside his head. But it’s a tribute to Zaillian’s writing and directing – as well as the brilliance of Highsmith’s creation and Scott’s performance – that eight hours with this freak is bearable, at times entertaining, and on occasion even enjoyable.”

So that’s what we thought, while the following is how the story plays out over the eight episodes that are now streaming, so beware of SPOILERS AHEAD…

What happens at the end of Netflix series Ripley?

In Episode 3 of Ripley, Tom murders Dickie Greenleaf. While in Episode 5, he kills Freddie Miles. At the end of the series, Ripley gets away with those murders, and disappears with a new identity.

In Episode 8 — the final instalment of Ripley — Tom is living the high life in Venice, and has become something of a minor celebrity thanks to his friendship with supposed fugitive Dickie. Greenleaf’s girlfriend Marge visits looking for answers. While his father shows up, looking for his son.

But Police Inspector Pietro Ravini allays all their fears, setting out the facts as he sees them, which concern Dickie’s guilt, and Tom’s innocence. There’s a moment where Marge looks like she might the truth — when she spots Dickie’s ring on Tom’s finger — but Ripley talks his way out of the situation, with Marge believing her beau gave it to Tom because he was planning suicide.

Ripley meets with an art dealer — played by Ripley’s Game star John Malkovich in a fun cameo — and pays him for a new identity: Mr. Timothy Fanshaw. While he sends a letter to his former landlady, writing what she needs to hear, to tie up that loose end.

The series ends with Inspector Ravini receiving a copy of Marge’s new book — ‘My Atrani’ — in which he sees a photo of Dickie, not Tom. The policeman immediately realizes that Ripley had been pretending to be Greenleaf the entire time, and finally grasps that the title character is a double-murderer. But it’s too late, as Tom Ripley — now Timothy Fanshaw — is presumably long gone.

Which means that Tom Ripley lives to kill another day, so if Netflix wish to craft a sequel series, they are free to plunder Patricia Highsmith’s four sequels: Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley, and Ripley Under Water.

All episodes of Ripley are now available on Netflix, while for more titles new to streaming head here.