- —Phillip Carson to Ethan Lander, "Life Begins"
Phillip Carson, also know as Phil Carson, is a character on Prime Video's Utopia. He buys the manuscript from the comic Utopia. He is portrayed by Josh Bywater.
History[]
After Ethan Lander and Olivia discover the manuscript for the comic Utopia in the home left to Olivia by her grandfather, the two post it for sale at a comics convention known as Fringecon. They reserve a private room and take bids for the comic, admitting bidders one at a time and allowing them each to see a single page of the comic. Upon arriving for his appointment and seeing his page, Carson declares that he'd like to preempt the bidding and leave with the comic immediately. Ethan tells him to leave his bid and contact details and Carson responds by pulling out a card with his name and "penthouse" written on it, and a briefcase with $20,000. Upon seeing the money, Ethan is stunned, as it is a far higher amount than anyone has offered thus far. He looks to Olivia, who smiles and the deal is sealed.
Later, two men, Arby and Rod arrive, demanding to know where Utopia is and who has seen it. When Ethan and Olivia are slow to respond, they pull a gun and secure the information, then inject everyone present in the room with a lethal poison, though they claim that it's only a robbery and the injection is just to knock them out. The two then proceed to the penthouse, where they discover Carson inside with a woman. Rod points a gun and Arby tells Carson that they're there for the Utopia manuscript. The woman chuckles and insults Rod, who pistol-whips her to the ground. Carson goes to the room's phone and tries to dial for help, only for Rod to impale his hand and demand to know where the manuscript is. Carson tells him that it's in the bedroom, but when they go to search for it, a boy, Grant Bishop, who has sneaked into the room, escapes with it. The two pursue, but fail to catch him. They thus return to the room where Arby discovers Carson still trying to free his hand. While Rod phones their home base, Arby shoots and kills Carson.
Behind the scenes[]
A deleted scene for the episode "Talking Hurts" reveals that Carson was actually just a buyer for another man, known only as Tallman, who collects last issues of comics. Carson's death forces Tallman to seek out Becky Todd and try to buy the comic off of her with a large supply of pills which can relieve the symptoms of her Diels syndrome.