'Utopia' Red Band Trailer: Things Get Violent In The Latest Look At Gillian Flynn's Amazon Series

Amazon is ready to take you to Utopia, a new series from Gillian Flynn, adapted from the 2013 British show of the same name. In the series, fans of a comic book discover a conspiracy within the comic is actually real, and now, "a group of young fans come together to embark on a high-stakes twisted adventure to use what they uncover to save themselves, each other, and ultimately humanity." A new Utopia red band trailer gives us a blood-drenched look at the series below.

Utopia has had a strange path. The concept originated as a British series in 2013. Then, in 2018, HBO ordered an American remake with David Fincher set to direct. However, budget disputes killed the project over at HBO – but it eventually found new life on Amazon. Fincher is no longer involved, but Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn, who was going to work with Fincher on the HBO version, remained on board. And now, Utopia is gearing up to arrive on Amazon Prime Video on September 25, 2020.

"My idea was to not only Americanize it and deal with things that I think specifically feel resonant with Americans in a lot of ways, but also to make it gritty, and dirty, and nasty, in a very realistic way," Flynn said. "Whereas [Dennis Kelly] took his cue from graphic novels themselves, I took my cue more from the '70s paranoia thrillers I loved that came out after Watergate, in that era where no one trusted anyone and there was a breakdown in what society, the government, and the world was feeling like. I wanted that paranoia to feel very real and to be able to access that through each different character."

Here's the synopsis:

Utopia centers on a group of comic fans who meet online and bond over their obsession of a seemingly fictional comic called, "Utopia." Together, Ian (Dan Byrd), Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), 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 realize these are not just the makings of a conspiracy; they are very real dangers coming alive right now in their world. The high-stakes adventure brings the group face-to-face with the comic's famed central character, Jessica Hyde (Sasha Lane), who joins them on their mission to save the world while harboring secrets of her own.

While I'm a big fan of Flynn, and I love a lot of people in this cast, I'm still not sold on Utopia, even after this trailer full of bonkers violence and all sorts of other mayhem. Maybe it'll surprise me.