Today is the day fans of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic series Y: The Last Man have been waiting for, with production finally getting under way on the upcoming FX TV show. For several years, this hit comic book (which spanned 60 issues from 2002 to 2008) was in development as a feature film adaptation, with filmmakers such as D.J. Caruso, Louis Leterrier and Dan Trachtenberg once attached to adapt the comic to the big screen. When the Y: The Last Man rights reverted back to Vaughan and Guerra, after the film adaptation failed to go into production by the end of 2014, the project took a different turn, towards the small screen.
It was reported in September 2015, nearly a year after the rights reverted back to the original creators, that FX was developing a Y: The Last Man TV series with Vaughan and Guerra. After another lengthy development process, which saw Michael Green come aboard as showrunner in November 2016, FX finally issued a pilot order back in April, which started the casting process. The comic book followed the exploits of Yorick Brown, who has become literally the last man on Earth, the sole male survivor of a plague, along with his pet monkey Ampersand. Brown is tasked by his mother, a prominent Senator, to visit a geneticist in New York, to find out why he survived and discover how humanity can be saved.
The news that production started came straight from the Twitter account of showrunner Michael Green, who tweeted out a photo of a Y that could either be the show’s official logo, or a wooden Y that you could pick up at Home Depot. The showrunner confirmed production was starting by simply stating “DAY 1”, while tagging co-creator Aida Makasha, executive producer Melina Matsoukas (who is also directing the pilot episode), executive producer Nina Jacobson and star Barry Keoghan, who plays the titular character. Hopefully, this initial tweet will be followed with photos and other details from the set as production on the pilot continues.
When casting began earlier this summer, it was originally reported that Jodie Foster was in talks to star as Yorick’s mother, Senator Jennifer Brown, but that role would eventually go to Diane Lane. The cast also includes Imogen Poots as Hero Brown, Yorick’s older sister; Lashanna Lynch as Agent 355, a Secret Service agent who protects Yorick on his journey; Timothy Hutton as the President of the United States; Marin Ireland as Nora, the President’s senior assistant; and Juliana Canfield as Beth, a Brookyn knife-maker who meets Yorick on his journey. The cast also includes Amber Tamblyn as a character who didn’t originate in the comics: Mariette Callows, the President’s daughter.
Y: The Last Man is considered by many to be an iconic comic book series, which picked up three Eisner Awards; and now, after a decade of waiting, Vaughan and Guerra’s beloved characters will finally be brought to life. This will likely be a show where fan standards are set ridiculously high, giving the show’s creative team and cast a daunting task ahead of them. The series is certainly in more than capable hands though; with Green, who has been lauded for his work both on the big screen as an Oscar-nominated writer for Logan and on the small screen, for his work as co-showrunner/creator of Starz’s American Gods (with Bryan Fuller). Whether his work on Y: The Last Man lives up to the hype, however, remains to be seen.
More: FX’s Y: The Last Man Pilot Casts Timothy Hutton as the U.S. President
Y: The Last Man does not have an official premiere date yet. We will let you know when that changes.
Source: Michael Green
