Utopia ending explained and season 2 hints

“We already are just dipping into season two. And I've told everyone, the world is open, let's see what we want to do.”

But how does Utopia season one end, exactly, and what does it all mean? Check out our quick summary and explainer below, but beware – obviously we’ll be delving into some pretty serious spoilers below the drop.

Still here? Well, OK – let’s begin with the bigger points. In the final episode it’s revealed exactly what Dr Christie (John Cusack) and The Harvest are up to, with the cult-like organisation creating a fake flu pandemic that will require the mass buy-up of Christie’s vaccine.

The twist? The vaccine actually carries a new virus, created by Jessica’s (Sasha Lane) father that will render those who take it sterile, with the intention of halting human reproduction for three generations and eventually solving the issue of overpopulation.

Discovering this, the gang of nerds and Dr Stearns (Rainn Wilson) head to ChristieCo and destroy the vaccine, while Wilson (Desmin Borges) tries to get Christie to film a confession video that will destroy his reputation. Instead, Christie convinces Wilson that his cause is just, turning him to his organisation’s side for the greater good.

After destroying the vaccine the nerds scatter, but can’t escape entirely. While Ian (Dan Byrd) and Alice manage to get away Grant (Javon Walton) is arrested, while Becky is picked up by Christie and the turncoat Wilson.

Meanwhile, Arby (Christopher Denham) takes Jessica Hyde back to the yellow house of her childhood, where she reunites with Milner only to learn the horrible truth – Milner wasn’t after the prophetic Utopia comic after all. Instead, she wanted Jessica, whose blood secretly contains a cocktail of virus that will truly change the world forever.

After taking Jessica captive, in the series’ final moments Milner walks down into a basement room to approach a surprising figure – Jessica’s father, still alive and working on a new comic-book page that shows Jessica’s injection-scarred back.

“I have your daughter,” Milner says, just as Jessica opens her eyes again…

“There's gonna be more...the ideas I played with as far as Home and where Jessica comes from, and what that background is, and what Christie really wants, are all explained a little bit more in that final episode,” Flynn told us.

“Nothing gets nailed down, but there is a lot more of a glimpse into things we've been alluding to. For me it really finalises the mythology of the show.”

Fans of the original UK Utopia may note that the revelations of this final episode – down to the fake-flu-sterilisation story, Wilson’s heel-turn and Jessica’s blood containing a virus – are very close to the finale of Dennis Kelly’s Utopia series one, which first aired on TV in 2013.

However, there are some key differences in where each character ends up – most notably Becky being captured, Jessica’s father being introduced earlier and new character Christie surviving to plot again – which Flynn suggests will make season two of the US Utopia very different to what Kelly plotted for series two of the original drama.

“I didn’t even watch much of Dennis’s second season because mine goes to a different place and takes us to a different ending,” Flynn told us – and while she’s not giving anything away about what we can expect just yet, she seemed confident that more episodes would be on their way.

“I won't write every episode myself this time, that was exhausting, so we have our writers' room,” she said. “So that's really where we are, we're just now kind of starting out.

“But there is a hope and intention to do a season two. There's certainly enough to play with for sure.”

Utopia episodes 1-8 are streaming on Amazon Prime Video now. Want something else to watch? Check out our full TV Guide.