Yahoo News Rainn Wilson and Gotham star join remake of Channel 4's Utopia
The cast of Amazon's take on Channel 4's cult series Utopia is shaping up nicely, as it confirms Star Trek: Discovery and The Office US star Rainn Wilson in a lead role on the new drama.
TVLine reports that Rainn has joined the cast as Michael Stearns, a once promising virologist who has lost his edge, but offers up his expertise when a nationwide outbreak of a deadly flu arises – only to soon realise that he's landed in the middle of something much bigger.
Also cast in roles in the new series are American Honey's Sasha Lane, Cougar Town's Dan Byrd, who plays excitement-seeker Ian, and Gotham star Cory Michael Smith, who'll play the role of Thomas Christie.
Last year, it was confirmed that Amazon Studios had greenlit a straight-to-series order for a nine-episode run of a US remake of Utopia, three years after it failed to get off the ground at HBO.
The Channel 4 series followed a group of fans of an iconic, underground graphic novel who found themselves in their very own thriller when they discovered that a sequel had already been secretly written.
According to TVLine, the synopsis of the remake follows the same principle, as a group of young adults who meet online are "mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organisation after they come into possession of a near-mythical cult underground graphic novel".
"Within the comic's pages, they discover the conspiracy theories that may actually be real and are forced into the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world," the synopsis continues.
Gone Girl and Sharp Objects writer Gillian Flynn is bringing the drama to life, and speaking last year she revealed that she was looking forward to turning creator Dennis Kelly's series into 'her own weird, wild place'.
"[Utopia] blew my mind," she said. "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."
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