‘Y: The Last Man’ TV Series Finally Moving Forward at FX

It’s only taken 15 years or so, but Y: The Last Man is finally coming to TV. FX has officially handed down a pilot order for the long-awaited adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s seminal comic, tasking an American Gods castoff and Jessica Jones fave to helm it.

Over a year after hiring Michael Green as showrunner, and almost three years after FX set out to adapt the project, network execs confirm Y: The Last Man is moving forward with a streamlined title of Y. The pilot order includes Jessica Jones alum Aida Mashaka Croal serving as co-showrunner with Green, while Insecure vet Melina Matsoukas will direct. The team had been working on the script for some time, along with FX producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.

The Brian K. Vaughan adaptation has been in development at FX since at least 2015, with Green said to still be working on the script in January 2017. Last July, Green revealed that the 2016 election had stalled his progress with the material, as “I had to put the script down for a couple months and really reassess it tonally, because it became a different creature, it became violent protest.” More recently, FX boss John Landgraf noted that Green’s exit from American Gods might put Y: The Last Man back in play.

For those unfamiliar with the 2002 series drawn by Pia Guerra, Y: The Last Man follows an apocalyptic event in which almost every male on Earth simultaneously dies, save for twenty-something escape artist Yorick and his pet monkey. The pair team with secret agent “355” and a young doctor to travel the country in search of Yorick’s girlfriend Beth, as well as an answer to the plague. New Line had earlier acquired the rights in in 2007; setting David Goyer, Carl Ellsworth and director D.J. Caruso to adapt Y: The Last Man as a single film, before rights reverted to Vaughan in 2014.

There’s good reason to hope FX will get it right, but can a Y: The Last Man series live up to the hype?

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