FX has ordered a pilot for Y: The Last Man, a television adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s landmark comic book series about a plague that wipes out nearly every organism with a Y chromosome except for amateur magician and escape artist Yorick Brown and his monkey Ampersand. In addition, FX has brought on writer/producer Aïda Mashaka Croal (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage) as co-showrunner with Michael Green (American Gods). They will executive produce alongside Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson (The Hunger Games), as well as Vaughan.
While a TV series has been in development since late 2015, the last update was over a year ago. The pilot itself has also gone through many iterations, as The Hollywood Reporter pointed out in its writeup: The 2016 presidential election forced Green to “reassess it tonally,” he said in an interview last year, explaining that “it became a different creature, it became violent protest. It couldn’t not be political, and I had to embrace it, and I had to find my way in, and I had to find a way to channel my own dismay, disappointment and rage into it, while still keeping it what it is.”
What Vaughan was looking for in an adaptor was someone who both loved the source material and wasn’t afraid to change it. Translating a 60-issue series to film hadn’t succeeded, after Vaughan and director D.J. Caruso had envisioned a trilogy and New Line Cinema instead wanted a single feature. “When [Green] first pitched his take on it to Nina Jacobson and me a long time ago,” he told THR, “he came in saying he wanted to do something about toxic masculinity. It felt very relevant, and unfortunately, I think it’s only become more relevant with each passing day. His take on it was really brave and very different, but exciting as well. I really admire how audacious he’s been with his translation.”
Melina Matsoukas (Insecure, Master of None) will direct the pilot. It’s really heartening to see FX hiring a female showrunner and director to shape this adaptation; it brings to mind how Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale also actively draws from the female perspective in its creative team.
Who do you think should play Yorick, 355, Dr. Mann, Hero, Beth, and everyone else in the series?
