It seems that Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer) won’t technically be the “Last Man” on Earth in FX’s ‘Y’. In a modern twist, Elliot Fletcher, who is transgender, will co-star in the role of Sam Jordan, the best friend and “enabler” of Hero Brown, Yorick’s sister, played by Imogen Poots. This is a series regular role.
Per Deadline:
His background (he grew up in poverty with absent parents), has made him resourceful and resilient in a world where surviving men are greeted with suspicion or worse. Street smart but occasionally self-destructive, he is wry and funny, with a big heart.
In the comic books, every mammal with a Y chromosome is wiped out, with Yorick and his monkey Ampersand mysteriously surviving. The comics, entitled ‘Y: The Last Man’, written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Pia Guerra, were published in 2002-08, so trans rights and visibility were not as high-profile as they are now. This adds a more modern spin to update the story.
The description of him being Hero’s “enabler” could hint at a larger role for Yorick’s sister in the TV series, with her possibly exhibiting some potentially self-destructive behaviors.
Barry Keoghan starred in the first pilot for ‘Y’, but he quit the series in early February. No additional episodes have been filmed yet, as presumably, the recasting of the show’s lead will require a complete reshoot of the pilot.
The cast also includes Diane Lane as Yorick’s mother, Senator Jennifer Brown, and Lashana Lynch as Agent 355, plus Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Timothy Hutton as the President of the U.S.
Fletcher had the recurring roles of Trevor on ‘Shameless’ and Aaron Baker on ‘The Fosters’. He also made an appearance in the final season of ‘Runaways’. He has a supporting role on the TNT series ‘Tell Me Your Secrets’, which was apparently filmed in 2018, but has not yet debuted.
Production on Season 1 was supposed to start in April, but with the current coronavirus crisis, that may not happen. FX still hopes that ‘Y’ will be released this year.
