After several years stuck in “development hell,” a TV series based on the Vertigo (DC) Comics series ‘Y: The Last Man’ has officially been ordered by the FX network.
Co-created by long-time comic-book guru Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, ‘Y: The Last Man’ ran for 60 issues after its debut in 2002 and quickly became a fan-favorite series, a status it continues to hold to this day. The tale revolves heavily around Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand, who find themselves as the last upright-walking males left alive after a mysterious plague wipes out the rest of the male population on Earth.
Co-showrunning and executive-producing the show will be Michael Green and Aïda Mashaka Croal, who have previously worked individually on such films & TV series as ‘Blade Runner 2049,’ ‘Logan,’ ‘Luke Cage,’ and ‘American Gods.’ In a joint statement, Croal and Green said the following about the new project:
“Brian and Pia’s exploration of a world without men is a favorite for its depth, its humor, its insights and its monkey. Adapted today it offers us a cracked mirror to look at our own very cracked world. We thank them for their trust — we thank FX for their support — and we thank the casting gods for letting us work with this incredible group of actors.”
For his part in the long-running adaptation process, Vaughan says:
“[I] wanted to find someone who loved the source material but didn’t feel so indebted to it that they would be afraid to change it. When [Green] first pitched his take on it to Nina Jacobson and me a long time ago, 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.”
At one point, Green had debated walking away from the project entirely, but his passion – and his vision for the show – was energized during the most recent US Presidential Election in which Donald Trump won the Presidency. As Green remembers:
“It would have been a very different show, and very different development process, had the election not been as horrifying as it was. 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. 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. For a minute there, I almost walked away.”
‘Y: The Last Man’ is expected to debut on FX sometime in 2020.