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It’s the End of the World on Amazon Prime’s Utopia
Set to premiere on Sept. 25 — and based on the British cult hit of the same name — Amazon’s Utopia finds a gang of online friends thrust into a global conspiracy. Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Ian (Dan Byrd), Wilson (Desmin Borges), Sam (Jessica Rothe), and Grant (Javon Walton) discover a graphic novel, Utopia, that foretells cataclysmic events, pandemic outbreaks, and other threats to humanity. The unlikely heroes must keep a sinister organization from obtaining the book for their own nefarious purposes… and save the planet in the process.
On a warm fall day in 2019, SYFY WIRE is in Chicago, where Utopia is currently shooting on location at a hotel. Production has transformed the inside lobby and bottom floor into Fringe Con, a small bootleg convention. Cosplayers walk the grounds. Publishers such as MKO Comics and Horsemen have erected booths to promote their line of comic books and merchandise. However, the main action unfolding involves Ian and Becky. The pair are sipping drinks in the bar area. This moment captures their first meeting.
“The group, for their own reasons, are very preoccupied and fixated on finding this next edition of the comic book,” Byrd says during a break. “I’m more preoccupied with meeting Becky. I met them online, so I am enough of a nerd to be in these forums and be interested in the subject manner. But what really drew me in was the connection I made with Becky.”