John Cusack will star opposite Rainn Wilson and Sasha Lane on “Sharp Objects” author Gillian Flynn’s upcoming Amazon series “Utopia.”
Cusack will play Dr. Kevin Christie. Charismatic and media-savvy, with a brilliant biotech mind and a philanthropic outlook, Christie altruistically wants to change the world through science.
“Utopia” follows a group of young adults who meet online, and “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 into the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world.”
Flynn — who has an overall deal at Amazon Studios — is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of “Utopia,” which is based on the British series of the same name written by Dennis Kelly and received a nine-episode straight-to-series order at Amazon last April.
Executive producers include Jessica Rhoades (who Flynn collaborated with on HBO’s “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.
“Utopia” is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America and Kudos, an Endemol Shine Group UK production studio, as well as Amazon Studios.