American Honey and The Miseducation of Cameron Post actress Sasha Lane has signed on for a lead role in Amazon’s upcoming drama series Utopia, which is being written by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects) and is based upon the British Channel 4 series of the same name from creator Dennis Kelly.
Variety reports that Utopia “follows 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.”
Lane – who will next be seen in Lionsgate’s Hellboy reboot – is set to play Jessica Hyde, a character described as ” tough and feral after a life on the run from a mysterious and dangerous group, Jessica believes all the answers about her perplexing life story may be hidden in the graphic novel Utopia.”
As I’ve been writing ‘Utopia’ and trying to imagine the actor who could possibly embody Jessica Hyde, Sasha Lane has constantly kicked her way into my mind,” said Flynn. “She has the shape-shifting ability to feel at once raw, unpredictable and a little unnerving while also making you want to wrap your arms around her. I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her play this utterly unique character.”
Utopia was originally set up at HBO by Flynn and Gone Girl director David Fincher, with the latter dropping out of the project after failing to agree with HBO on the show’s budget. It was subsequently picked up by Amazon, which gave it a nine-episode series order last year.
Originally published January 31, 2019. Updated January 30, 2019.
