Rainn Wilson and John Cusack Tackle a Flu Pandemic in Trailer for Amazon's Utopia
The upcoming eight-part series from Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn is based on the British show of the same name
"We can fight it. We'll just be going into the belly of the beast, practically begging to be slaughtered."
So says Rainn Wilson as Dr. Michael Stearns, a virologist out to stop the spread of a superflu, in the trailer for Amazon Prime Video's Utopia, an all-too-timely eight-part series that explores a world grappling with a pandemic.
The series, from Sharp Objects and Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn, follows a group of comic fans who meet and bond over their obsession with a seemingly fictional comic called Utopia. Together, Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Ian (Dan Byrd), Samantha (Jessica Rothe), Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges), and Grant (Javon "Wanna" Walton) unearth hidden meanings cloaked within the pages of Utopia, predicting threats to humanity.
They come to realize these are not just the makings of a conspiracy — they're very real dangers coming alive right now in their world.
The series also stars John Cusack in his first series regular role for TV as Dr. Kevin Christie, a billionaire philanthropist who might be connected to a new disease, plus Farrah Mackenzie, Christopher Denham and Cory Michael Smith.
Utopia is based on the 2013 British series of the same name.
"How do I make this new?" Flynn said she asked herself while speaking to Entertainment Weekly last month. "I'm a huge fan of all those conspiracy thrillers that came out after Watergate. All of [the British Utopia] plays very sleekly. I wanted mine to play bumpy, dirty, raw, real — like you're walking on the gum on the sidewalk and smelling the garbage in the alley."
Utopia premieres Sep. 25 on Amazon Prime Video.