Adapted by Gillian Flynn
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Amazon Prime Video (from 25 September)
鈥淲HAT have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world?鈥� This ominous question 鈥� frequently posed in the US TV series Utopia 鈥� hangs over the world envisaged by the show.
The series has been adapted by Gillian Flynn (screenwriter for hit film Gone Girl) from the 2013 British TV series of the same name, created by Dennis Kelly. It follows five strangers who connect online over their obsession with an elusive comic called Utopia. But these aren鈥檛 your typical comic book enthusiasts and this may be no real Utopia.
For complex and plot-spoiling reasons, the group is convinced the comic contains hints about future disasters and that finding it will shed light on what or who will be responsible.
The series begins when a young couple discover the original Utopia manuscript. Oblivious to its true value, they know enough to try to sell it at an upcoming comic convention in Chicago. This is the news the group has been waiting for.
At first, the group鈥檚 members seem like the conspiracy theorists other Utopia fans take them for. But when the comic is successfully auctioned, things take a sinister turn, with the arrival of the emotionally detached Arby (played by Christopher Denham) and his partner Rod (Michael B. Woods).
They are also hunting Utopia, and one of its not-so fictional characters, Jessica Hyde (Sasha Lane). So they are tracking down everyone at the auction who set eyes on the comic, including the group.
Meanwhile, a mysterious flu virus is killing schoolchildren in isolated pockets across the US. At the centre of this storyline is a doctor, Kevin Christie (John Cusack) of Christie Labs, a pharmaceuticals-turned-food company now rolling out its own version of lab-grown meat.
As the show develops, with images of disasters like fires and melting ice caps in the title sequence that may foreshadow what is to come, the group鈥檚 original suspicions about Utopia seem less and less fantastical.
Packed with thrills and some violence, Utopia lives up to what Flynn envisioned: 鈥淕narly, nasty, raw and unnerving鈥�. Perhaps what conveys this best is that it draws convincing parallels with real and tangible threats, including the coronavirus pandemic and runaway fires. That is what makes the idea of needing to earn your place 鈥� left hanging for future episodes 鈥� all the more disturbing.