Ultra violent, foul-mouthed and bloody minded, Utopia didn’t shy away from controversy. When the second series of Dennis Kelly’s dark comedy – about a group of unlikely characters who stumbled upon the key to an international conspiracy – debuted for a second season, it sent the Daily Mail into meltdown. In a searing no-star review, which mostly took issue with the fact one of Kelly’s storylines suggested that Margaret Thatcher’s government was backed by “deranged MI5 agents with swastikas carved into their stomachs,” it declared the show “beneath contempt.”

But many loved it, including the Emmys voters who gave it an international award for best drama in 2014. Via Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s soundtrack and the bravura cinematography of Ole Bratt Birkeland and Lol Crawley to its artistic (or sadistic) use of violence, it won an army of loyal, often young fans. But it wasn’t to last.

“Utopia is truly channel-defining: strikingly original, powered by Dennis Kelly’s extraordinary voice,” read the Channel 4 statement explaining why they were dropping Kelly’s drama in 2014. It did beg the question: if it’s so brilliant and ground-breaking then why was it being cancelled?

Neil Maskell, who played laconic Frankenstein-like hitman Arby in the series put it down to two factors: low-viewing figures (it slumped to 650,000 per episode) and the show being too London-centric. “People didn’t watch it and past two series you can’t keep asking for the money,” Maskell told the Radio Times. “I think maybe it was London-centric or something. It’s like that series Nathan Barley by Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris; someone said to me no one watched that because it was so ‘in’.”

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In or not, popular or not, Nathan Barley or not, arguably, Channel 4 haven’t managed to match the uniqueness of Utopia’s pitch-black comedy and intrigue since.

Immediately after its cancellation there was a reprieve of sorts for fans, as David Fincher announced he would be in charge of a remake for HBO. The cast was rumoured to include Rooney Mara as Jessica Hyde, Colm Feore, Eric McCormack, Jason Ritter and Agyness Deyn. It would be a big, meaty Americanised version of Channel 4’s surprise package. The problem was that HBO and Fincher fell out over the budget. It looked doomed to – like Freaks and Geeks, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and Deadwood – become a show you’d learn to hate just because of the amount of times TV bores would bang on about how tragic its cancelation was.

Now Amazon have stepped in – as they often do – to breathe new life into it, with a nine episode remake. Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, who worked with Fincher on the Gone Girl film adaptation, will be executive producer and showrunner.

There’s always some trepidation when it comes to US remakes of British TV. Often with very good reason. Some are non-starters (Only Fools and Horses, Luther), while others swim around in development hell (The IT Crowd, Bad Education), but the rare few not only succeed but improve on the original. The Office is the obvious example, where Ricky Gervais’s original tight two series effort was understood, unpacked and translated into a comedy that transcended the scope of its source material.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Neil Maskell as Arby and Fiona O’Shaughnessy as Jessica Hyde in Utopia Photograph: Channel 4

Fans of Utopia can hang on to this. If the show does move beyond its first nine episodes, which will presumably see Flynn either bring the story up to the end of seasons one or two (the UK original was six episodes per series), there is more story to go at. Kelly hinted that he has enough material for four seasons of the show before it was cancelled. Richard Vine, who recapped the series for The Guardian, said the larger scope of the second series, which time hopped to the 70s, kept him “wondering what else Rose Leslie’s version of Milner had got up to – what did she look like in the 80s? What was she doing in the 90s?”. Flynn could answer some of those questions and take the show in a new decade-spanning direction.

At the time of its cancellation Alistair Petrie (who plays Dugdale’s ruthless boss Geoff) said on Twitter that the cancellation is a “huge shame but it will have a legacy in how bold drama can be”. That proved to be prophetic.

The show’s legacy can be seen all over our screens. The acrid and saturated colour palate and mega violence used in Preacher; the paranoia and self doubt that runs through Mr Rabbit, I mean, Mr Robot; while Kelly’s unflinching use of coarse language and matter-of-fact delivery lives on in Black Mirror, The City and the City and even Agatha Christie adaptations. You could even argue that Stranger Things’ Eleven storyline bears a striking resemblance to that of Jessica Hyde, with the holy trinity of terrible parenting, shadowy experimentation and powerful unintended consequences all on display.

In a way Utopia never really left, but now it will be back where it belongs: on our screens, making people squirm all over again.