FX Reveals Reason Y: The Last Man Was Cancelled

FX canceled Y: The Last Man after just one season, and now that network is finally explaining the reasoning behind that decision. During the TCA presentation by FX Networks, FX Chairman John Landgraf addressed the cancellation of Y: The Last Man, stating, “I really loved Y: Last Man personally, I really admired all the work that went into it, I really think Eliza Clark did a great job. But I will tell you, its audience decline was really, really, really steep and ultimately that is what made us go in that direction.”

Y: The Last Man was launched as one of the flagship pieces of original content in the newly rebranded “FX on Hulu” streaming service. It was a fairly safe bet, on paper: Y: The Last Man had been lingering in development limbo ever since the comic series ran from the early to late 2000s. After countless attempts to adapt it as both a movie trilogy and TV series, FX seemed to be invested in finally making the property a mainstream hit. 

And yet, Y: The Last Man had one of the shortest runs we’ve seen from a comic book TV show, premiering in September of 2001 and being canceled in October, before season 1 was even finished. Because the show streamed on the FX on Hulu platform, there was never any public ratings information for fans and critics to analyze. However, other insider reports point to issues like contract extensions for the main cast being a big factor; creative team and casting shakeups making stability hard; and of course the production, marketing, and promotional challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When ComicBook.com sat down with Y: The Last Man showrunner Eliza Clarke in the fall, she was still hopeful that the show would find a new home on streaming (it has not): 

“I also want the show to continue on, and so does the cast and crew,” Clarke said. “I feel incredibly passionate about this story, and I feel like it’s an important story to be telling right now. And I was really sad about the cancellation, although the stuff that’s been reported about it, I think, is accurate. I don’t think FX would have wanted to make the decision as quickly as they had to. COVID pushed things in ways that put everybody in a really difficult position. There’s not really a bad guy in this scenario. It’s a really unfortunate set of circumstances, but I’m really hopeful that we’ll find a new home because I think the show only gets better from here.”

Source: Deadline