We’ve got some good news for fans of the cancelled Utopia TV show, which ran for two seasons on UK Channel 4. Amazon has issued a straight-to-series order for a nine-episode first season reboot of the Dennis Kelly thriller. Gone Girl author and screenwriter, Gillian Flynn is the creator and showrunner on the new Amazon TV series and is executive producing with Jessica Rhoades, Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson, Dennis Kelly, and Diederick Santer.
An Amazon action drama, Utopia is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America; Endemol’s UK production studio, Kudos; and Amazon Studios. The action drama centers on a group of online friends who come into possession of “a near mythical cult underground graphic novel.” Although they’re targets of a “shadowy deep state organization,” as they learn more about the comic, they realize they may just have to save the world. Utopia season one casting and the Amazon Prime release date will be announced at a date TBD.
DISAMBIGUATION NOTES:
In the US, FOX also had a TV show entitled Utopia, but it was a quickly cancelled reality series, which ran from September 7 to October 31 of 2014 and was axed while the first season was still in production.
The scripted UK drama, Utopia, upon which the new Amazon series is based, aired for two seasons (i.e. series) on Channel 4 between January 15, 2013 and August 12, 2014. It starred Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Alexandra Roach, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Adeel Akhtar, Oliver Wooliford, Paul Higgins, Neil Maskell, and Geraldine James.
Learn more about the new Utopia TV series from this Amazon press release.
Amazon Studios Greenlights Utopia, Signs Gillian Flynn to Overall Deal
Flynn, the award-winning, best-selling author and screenwriter of Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, will be the creator, executive producer and showrunner of Utopia, a new series exclusively for Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apr. 19, 2018– (NASDAQ: AMZN)— Amazon Studios announced today that it has greenlit a straight-to-series order for Utopia, a nine-episode series from award-winning Gillian Flynn, the best-selling author and screenwriter of Golden Globe nominated Gone Girl and HBO’s highly anticipated Sharp Objects. Flynn has also inked an overall deal with Amazon Studios across television, marking Utopia as the first project. Utopia will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories.
Utopia is based on the British series of the same name written by Dennis Kelly. The series is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America and Kudos, an Endemol Shine Group UK production studio, and Amazon Studios.
A group of young adults, who meet online, are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come in to possession of a near mythical cult underground graphic novel – they discover the conspiracy theories in the comic’s pages may actually be real and are forced in to the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world.
“We are huge fans of Gillian Flynn’s electrifying work,” said Nick Hall, Head of Alternative Series for Amazon Studios. “She crafts stories that hold her audience in a constant state of suspense and subverts the expectations behind her characters. She will deliver Prime Video members a series they won’t forget, and Utopia’s relevance is sure to connect with viewers around the globe.”
“Utopia is pure creative catnip to me. Dennis Kelly’s show blew my mind, and he has been so incredibly generous in letting me crack open his world and play around in it and make it my own weird, wild place. Utopia is all about exploring resonant issues within dark, twisted storytelling—it’s a series that’s urgent and current and a little holy-crap!, but a hell of a lot of a fun,” said Gillian Flynn.
Diederick Santer, CEO of Kudos said; “Dennis Kelly and the team at Kudos created a unique, dark and gripping British thriller, and we are incredibly excited that it has been so brilliantly reimagined by Gillian Flynn for a new global audience.”
Flynn is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of Utopia, and executive producers include Jessica Rhoades (who Flynn collaborated with on Sharp Objects), Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson, Dennis Kelly and Diederick Santer. Sharon Levy, President, Unscripted & Scripted Television, Endemol Shine North America, will oversee production for Endemol Shine.
Prime Original series are available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online with other Prime Original series at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Prime Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream. Content is available through the Prime Video app and PrimeVideo.com in more than 200 countries and territories.
What do you think? How do you like the sound of the Utopia TV series? Who would you cast in this Amazon TV show reboot of the British drama?
