After many delays, FX's Y: The Last Man adaptation finally begins production
Macall Polay/FX
At long last, fans of Y: The Last Man should prepare to see the comic come to life. After many delays in a process that included replacing both the original showrunners and the series' lead actor, FX announced Wednesday that production has officially begun on the Y: The Last Man TV show. Though previously referred to as Y, the show now officially shares the full title of the original comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.
Y: The Last Man was originally published by DC's Vertigo imprint from 2002 to 2008. Potential adaptations then spent more than a decade in development hell; at one point it was going to be a movie starring Shia LaBoeuf. Things finally got moving in 2018 when FX ordered a pilot and then a series, but more obstacles followed. Shortly before production was to begin, showrunners Michael Green and Aida Mashaka Croal announced they were leaving the project due to creative differences with the network, but FX vowed to push ahead and eventually Eliza Clark was hired as the new showrunner. Then, earlier this year, the lead role of Yorick Brown (the titular last man on Earth) was recast, replacing Dunkirk star Barry Keoghan with Warcraft actor Ben Schnetzer. The roles of Yorick's protector, Agent 355 (named for a female spy who served under George Washington and also inspired the name of the upcoming all-women spy movie), and sister, Hero Brown (in the comics their father was a literature professor who named them both after Shakespeare characters), were also recast, replacing Lashana Lynch with Ashley Romans in the former and replacing Imogen Poots with Olivia Thirlby in the latter. Now, filming is finally underway.
The original Y: The Last Man comics begin with a mysterious plague that kills every male mammal except Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand, so it's doubly interesting for the show to begin production in the midst of a real-life global pandemic. Then again, FX's announcement describes this inciting incident simply as a "cataclysmic event," so maybe the details are slightly changed. In addition to the characters noted above, Y: The Last Man stars Diane Lane as Yorick's mother, Congresswoman Jennifer Brown, Amber Tamblyn as Kimberly Cunningham, Marin Ireland as Nora Brady, Diana Bang as Dr. Allison Mann; Elliot Fletcher as Sam Jordan; and Juliana Canfield as Beth Deville. Vaughan, original pilot director Melina Matsoukas, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, and Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda are executive producers alongside Clark.
Y: The Last Man is currently slated to stream on FX on Hulu in 2021.
Related content:
