Amazon is getting into the Gillian Flynn business. It was announced today that the studio will go ahead with Utopia, a drama from Flynn that is based on a British series of the same name. They’ve also signed an overall development deal with the Gone Girl author. Utopia has been green-lit for a nine-episode first season, in which a group of young adults end up in the crosshairs of an ominous deep-state organization, because they’ve obtained a supersecret and super-desirable graphic novel that may contain a vast real-world conspiracy in its pages. As you might expect, it will be up to them to save the world. As Variety reports, Flynn first approached HBO with Utopia back in 2014, and even had Gone Girl director David Fincher attached to direct and produce. Terms could apparently not be met regarding the budget, however, and the project fell into turnaround. But Flynn didn’t slip far out of HBO’s orbit, as her book Sharp Objects is being adapted into a mini-series for the network.
Update, January, 29, 2019, 1:30 p.m.: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sasha Lane is the first person to be cast in Utopia in the role of Jessica Hyde. Hyde is apparently described as “tough and feral after a life on the run from a mysterious and dangerous group,” a character type she’s pretty much mastered with American Honey and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. The character believes her life is linked to the show’s sought-after graphic novel, and will be one of the young people trying to save the world.
