Utopia: Rainn Wilson joins Amazon thriller series
Rainn Wilson (The Office) has joined Amazon’s thriller series adaptation Utopia, Deadline has confirmed. The actor will co-star opposite lead Sasha Lane in the show, which is penned by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).
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Utopia, based on the British series of the same name written by Dennis Kelly, focuses on a group of young adults who meet online and are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come into possession of a near-mythical cult underground graphic novel. They discover the conspiracy theories in the comic’s pages may actually be real and forced into the dangerous, unique, and ironic position of saving the world.
Wilson, whose credits also include Star Trek: Short Treks, The Meg, Mom, and Blackbird, will play Michael Stearns. Once a promising virologist, Michael is now a forgotten scientist who’s lost his edge –under-appreciated and underfunded in his laboratory work. When a nationwide outbreak of a deadly flu arises, Michael offers his expertise, and soon finds he has landed smack in the middle of something much bigger.
Flynn is the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Utopia. Jessica Rhoades (who Flynn collaborated with on Sharp Objects), Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson, Dennis Kelly, and Diederick Santer will also serve as executive producers. Sharon Levy, President of Unscripted & Scripted Television for Endemol Shine North America, will oversee production for Endemol Shine.
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The series is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America and Kudos, an Endemol Shine Group UK production studio, and Amazon Studios. Utopia will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
