Amazon has opted not to order a second season of Utopia, its straight-to-series adaptation of the British drama, written by Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn. The series, starring John Cusack, Sasha Lane and Rainn Wilson, premiered on Sept. 25 to so-so reviews and had a quiet run.
Utopia follows a group of young adults who meet online that are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization 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 Amazon adaptation was a co-production between Endemol Shine North America/Kudos and Amazon Studios. Executive producing alongside Flynn were Jessica Rhoades, Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson and Dennis Kelly.
A U.S. version of the 2013-14 British series Utopia, created by Dennis Kelly and produced by Endemol Shine Group’s UK production studio Kudos, was previously in the works at HBO in 2015 with David Fincher and Flynn. (Fincher, who had been originally attached to direct and executive produce, brought on Flynn to write the series having just worked with her on the feature Gone Girl, which he helmed from a script she had penned based on her book.) The series was in pre-production, and Fincher and Flynn had been rehearsing with the cast that included Rooney Mara, Colm Feore, Eric McCormack, Dallas Roberts and Jason Ritter, when it unraveled after Fincher and HBO could not agree on a budget.