Amazon’s ‘Utopia’ fires up timely, ‘surreal’ take on viral epidemic

You can add “Utopia” to the “art imitating life” entertainment trope.

The series, premiering Friday, Sept. 25, on Amazon Prime, was filmed last fall — but one of its storylines concerns a viral epidemic that’s killing people, mostly school kids, across the US.

Sound familiar?

“It’s just another layer of surreal on top of a very surreal year for everyone,” says “Utopia” co-star Dan Byrd, referring to the pandemic. “It’s interesting to see these events take hold in contemporary society in real-time after experiencing them in a show we filmed last year.

“I’m not privvy to internal conversations that are happening [at Amazon],” he says, “but my outlook is that ‘Utopia’ is very much escapist entertainment that takes place on a pulpy comic-book frequency — and in no way is informed by the events of 2020.”

That may be, but the nine-episode series, originally slated for David Fincher and HBO, does hit close to home. Byrd plays the shy Ian who, along with a group of like-minded pals, is obsessed with an extraordinarily rare, mythical comic book called “Utopia.” They’re convinced it can predict current events through its hidden symbols and its main character, Jessica Hyde.

‘It’s just another layer of surreal on top of a very surreal year for everyone.’

After a copy of “Utopia” is found, Ian and his heretofore online-only friends — Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges), Samantha (Jessica Rothe) and Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop) —  finally meet in-person at a comic-book convention, hoping to submit a winning bid for “Utopia” while awaiting the arrival of their fifth member, Grant (Javon Walton).

Events quickly spiral out of control when two cold-blooded assassins arrive at the convention in search of the comic book while a young woman (Sasha Lane) claims to be the real Jessica Hyde. Meanwhile, there’s the unfolding epidemic — involving the head of a plant-based food giant (John Cusack), and a community college virologist (Rainn Wilson) who might have the cure.

The series was adapted by Gillian Flynn (“Sharp Objects,” “Gone Girl”) from the British original, which aired for two seasons (2013 to 2014) on Channel 4 in the UK.

“I tried to familiarize myself with [the British version] and once I got the part I dove in and watched it,” Byrd says. “I sort of knew from the outset that this series was going to be different in fundamental ways and I knew that Gillian wanted to put her own stamp on it. The John Cusack character doesn’t exist in the British version, which has a very dry, Brit-pop, colorful sensibility.

“This has a more visceral feel,” he says. “I heard that when Gillian was pitching it, she described it as ” ‘Marathon Man’ meets ‘The Goonies’ ” and was inspired by the paranoid thrillers of the ’70s. She wasn’t scared to deviate.

Byrd describes himself as “nerd adjacent” when it comes to comic books.

“I understand the appeal,” he says. “I’m definitely interested in the genre, but I’m not engaged on that super-fan level. All of pop culture is fueled by fandom — it’s the lifeblood of this industry — and one of the things I love about the show is that it’s really a celebration of and a love letter to that subculture that … gets an unfair rap in many ways.

“This show is like if you went to a comic convention, sat through the panels, then woke up the next day in the world of [Adult Swim animated hit] ‘Rick & Morty.’ This is the sort of transition the characters are going through.”

Byrd says the cast bonded over going to Cubs games (the series was shot in Chicago, where Flynn is based) and, “after some of the more taxing days on the set,” going out for dinner or drinks.

“We usually had to drive an hour outside the city to a suburb … and only one of us, Des, had a car,” he says. “He was smart enough to negotiate that into his contract. So we would carpool to our locations.

“Sitting in the car with people is a good way to get to know each other.”