Rainn Wilson will star opposite Sasha Lane on “Sharp Objects” author Gillian Flynn’s upcoming Amazon series “Utopia.”
The “Office” alum 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.
“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 in to 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, and Amazon Studios.