EXCLUSIVE: Javon “Wanna” Walton has been cast as one of the four leads in Utopia, Amazon’s adaptation of the British series, written by Gone Girl author and screenwriter Gillian Flynn.
Utopia follows a group of young adults who meet online — one of them played by Walton — who are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organization after they come into possession of Utopia, a near-mythical cult underground graphic novel. Within the comic’s pages, they discover the conspiracy theories that actually might be real and are forced into the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world.
Walton plays Grant, who is streetwise beyond his years, independent, fearless, crafty and charming. Raised in the Kansas City projects by an alcoholic single mother, he’s now roaming the streets alone. Grant embarks on a dangerous mission to uncover the secrets from Utopia. The role was played by Oliver Woollford in the original series.
The Amazon adaptation, which also stars Sasha Lane and Rainn Wilson, is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America/Kudos and Amazon Studios. Executive producing alongside Flynn are Jessica Rhoades, Kelly, Kudos’ Karen Wilson and Diederick Santer as well as Sharon Hall. Sharon Levy oversees production for Endemol Shine.
Walton next will be seen in a recurring role in HBO’s Euphoria. A boxing prodigy, Walton is known as Under Armour’s youngest athlete. He is a five-time Georgia state champion and four-time USA Boxing SouthEast regional champion boxer. With nearly 160,000 followers on Instagram, Walton became known when Steve Harvey found him on Instagram back in 2017 and brought him on his TV show Steve. Walton is repped by Anonymous Content, Abrams Artists Agency and ID.
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