Courtesy of Amazon Studios
It's that time again where we finally have a piece of news that isn't about something getting delayed by the Covid-19 crisis. While everything else is slowly starting to reopen, studios are developing and looking into whatever they can make when things get back to normal again. Yep, these stories will keep happening as the world tries to return to normal. This time, Amazon is cutting it's loses and sending a series to an early digital grave.
For those of you who didn't see the first and seemingly only season of Utopia, here is what it was about. Based on the British show of the same name, a group of young adults who meet online get a hold of a cult underground graphic novel. After reading this graphic novel, it makes them the targets of a sinister and shadowy deep state organization intent on keeping the public ignorant of these dark secrets that come from the graphic novel. The group of young adults have to team up and stop the shadowy organization and stop a potential pandemic. As you can imagine that last part might have made this show a tough watch during these harrowing times.
This cancelation is the end of the long and strange journey through development hell and production this show had. Originally, this show was supposed to air on HBO and was to be directed by David Fincher. The show was meant to be a reunion between Fincher and his Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn. That iteration of the show had Kate Mara in the lead role and was days away from shooting before the plug due to budgetary issues. After that, the show remained in development hell until Flynn took over the show and pitched it to Amazon.
While we don't have the official numbers for the show, we can imagine they didn't satisfy Amazon. But judging by the lack of posts on social media and the show's mixed reviews, one didn't have to find a conspiratorial graphic novel to see the writing on the wall.