Y: The Last Man (TV series)

Y: The Last Man
Genre	Drama Post-apocalyptic
Based on	Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan Pia Guerra
Starring	Diane Lane Ben Schnetzer Olivia Thirlby Ashley Romans Juliana Canfield Marin Ireland Amber Tamblyn Elliot Fletcher
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Eliza Clark Nina Jacobson Brad Simpson Brian K. Vaughan Melina Matsoukas Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda
Producers	Nellie Reed
Production companies	Color Force FX Productions
Distributor	Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original network	FX on Hulu
External links
Website

Y: The Last Man is an upcoming American drama television series starring Diane Lane, Ben Schnetzer, Olivia Thirlby and Ashley Romans that is set to premiere on September 13, 2021, on FX on Hulu. It is based on the comic book series Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Eliza Clark serves as showrunner after Michael Green and Aida Mashaka Croal exited the project.

Premise

Y: The Last Man takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a mysterious cataclysmic event instantaneously killed every mammal with a Y chromosome but for one man, Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer), and his pet monkey Ampersand. The series follows Yorick as he traverses the new world as its survivors struggle with their losses and attempt to restore world society, led by Yorick's mother and new U.S. President Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane).

Transgender characters

In the original graphic novel, every animal with a Y chromosome instantaneously dies at the same time, including most mammals (reptiles, birds, etc. are unaffected because they mostly use different sex chromosomes). While transgender people weren't heavily focused on in the original comic, it was mentioned that trans men survived due to not having Y chromosomes.

The TV adaptation intends to update and expand on the ramifications of this, due to how societal attitudes towards gender have evolved in the almost two decades since the comic began. The showrunners have specified that trans women with Y chromosomes also died, as well as women with androgen insensitivity who were completely unaware they technically possessed Y chromosomes. The showrunners also made it a point to add a trans man character in the regular cast (played by Elliot Fletcher) who doesn't have a direct counterpart in the original comic, to expand on this world-building.

Speaking at the August 2021 TCA panel, showrunner Eliza Clark said: "Yorick's maleness is not what sets him apart in this world — it's his Y chromosome that sets him apart. Gender is diverse and chromosomes are not equal to gender. And so, in our world — in the world of the television show — every living mammal with a Y chromosome dies. Tragically, that includes many women; it includes non-binary people; it includes intersex people...We are making a show that affirms that trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary people are non-binary, and that is part of the richness of the world we get to play with."

Cast member Elliot Fletcher, who like his character Sam Jordan is a trans man, said that "In this world post the event, gender is somewhat irrelevant. I think one of the hilarious things about this show is that post-the-event, Yorick can walk around without a mask on because he's assumed to be trans, rather than pre-the-event people are assumed to be cisgender. And so, I just think it flips the traditional idea of gender completely on its head, and so I was very comfortable joining a project that knew that ahead of time and committed to it fully."

Societal effects

Showrunner Eliza Clark explained that the writing team tried to analyze the logical ripple effects of what would happen if all cisgender males instantaneously died. She said she was surprised at how even by 2020, there is still a large gender disparity in many aspects of essential infrastructure, ranging from the electrical power grid to something as basic as trucking to keep supply lines functional: "Basically what I learned is that our entire economy runs on trucks. So, if you’re living in a city, you know when to go to a grocery store that grocery store needs two deliveries a day to be stocked for the amount of people who are shopping [at] it, and they don’t have storage. I think 5% of truck drivers are women."

Clark went on to say, however, that while all biological males are suddenly killed off, essentially removing the gender binary divide among the survivors, the resulting society that develops over the course of the series is not egalitarian. Other social divisions remain based on race, sexual orientation, politics, or simply "capitalism" between the rich and poor.

Cast and characters

Main

• Ben Schnetzer as Yorick Brown, an amateur escape artist and now the last known biologically male human with a Y chromosome left alive
• Diane Lane as Jennifer Brown, Yorrick's mother and a U.S. senator who is elevated to President
• Olivia Thirlby as Hero Brown, Yorick's sister and a paramedic
• Ashley Romans as Agent 355, Yorrick's bodyguard
• Amber Tamblyn as Kimberly Cunningham
• Marin Ireland as Nora Brady
• Diana Bang as Dr. Allison Mann
• Elliot Fletcher as Sam Jordan, a trans man
• Juliana Canfield as Beth DeVille

Guest

• Paul Gross as the U.S. President who is killed in the global die-off

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"The Day Before"	Louise Friedberg	Eliza Clark	September 13, 2021 (2021-09-13)
2	"Would the World Be Kind"	Louise Friedberg	Eliza Clark	September 13, 2021 (2021-09-13)
3	"Neil"	Daisy von Scherler Mayer	Katie Edgerton	September 13, 2021 (2021-09-13)

Production

Development

Ben Schnetzer portrays series lead character Yorick Brown

On October 14, 2015, it was reported that FX had begun development on a television series adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's comic book series Y: The Last Man. Vaughan was set to produce alongside Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. Production companies involved with the series were expected to include Color Force and FX Productions.

On November 14, 2016, it was announced that Michael Green would serve as showrunner for the potential series in addition to writing a pilot script with Vaughan. On January 12, 2017, it was reported that FX was expecting to receive the script in the next few months. On May 31, 2017, it was clarified that Green had solely written the script and that Vaughan had read and liked it. On July 21, 2017, it was confirmed that FX had received a draft of the script from Green, that they had liked it, and that discussions over the potential series were ongoing. On January 16, 2018, FX CEO John Landgraf commented on the series' status during the annual Television Critics Association winter press tour saying, "[We feel] pretty optimistic, not quite at a final decision point. But we got a script I really like, a draft we really like recently." Landgraf went on to comment that Green was now available for the series following his departure from American Gods.

On April 5, 2018, it was announced that FX had given the production a pilot order. Green was expected to co-showrun the series with Aida Mashaka Croal, both of whom were also set to executive produce alongside Melina Matsoukas, Jacobson, Simpson, and Vaughan. Matsoukas was also slated to direct the pilot episode. On February 4, 2019, it was announced at the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that the production had been given a series order for a first season, expected to premiere in 2020.

In April 2019, Green and Croal exited the series due to creative differences. In June 2019, it was announced that Eliza Clark would be replacing Croal and Green as the showrunner. In February 2020, it was concluded that Clark, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force and Vaughan would executive produce. Matsoukas also serves as executive producer, as does Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda. Nellie Reed serves as producer. In May 2020, it was announced that the show's title had been changed from Y to Y: The Last Man. On June 22, 2020, it was announced that the series would premiere FX on Hulu instead of FX's linear cable network. In October 2020, it was announced that along with serving as showrunner, Eliza Clark would also be writing the first two episodes, with Louise Friedberg directing those episodes. FX also announced that the entire first season would be directed by women. The series is scheduled to premiere on September 13, 2021.

Casting

In July 2018, it was announced that Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Timothy Hutton had been cast in the pilot's main roles. In February 2020, it was announced that Keoghan was no longer portraying Yorick and that a new actor would be cast. Later that month, Ben Schnetzer was cast in the role of Yorick. In March 2020, it was announced that Elliot Fletcher had been cast in the series regular role of Sam Jordan, Yorick's best friend. In October 2020, Ashley Romans and Olivia Thirlby joined the cast to replace Lynch and Poots as Agent 355 and Hero Brown, respectively. It was also announced that Hutton was no longer part of the cast list due to series restructuring, and his role would be played by Paul Gross. It was later announced that Diana Bang had been cast as Doctor Allison Mann.

Filming

Principal photography for the pilot originally commenced on August 20, 2018.

Filming locations reportedly included Pearl River, New York. In February 2020, it was revealed that production for the series was to begin in April. However, production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming for the series began in Mississauga, Canada on October 26, 2020, and concluded on July 23, 2021.

External links

• Y: The Last Man at IMDb