Y: The Last Man TV Series Gets a New Title

FX's Y: The Last Man television series has a new title, and it's... Y: The Last Man. Based on FX's Tuesday reveal of its 2020-21 original programming lineup, the network confirmed that the series is still on the docket. But the announcement, and the social media crowing that followed, referred to the series as Y: The Last Man rather than its previous title, which was simply Y. The Y title received criticism from fans both for being too vague and for making what some considered an unnecessary change to the comic book source material's title. Those same fans will be pleased to see the series using the same title as the comic.

Y: The Last Man is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name created by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. DC Comics imprint Vertigo Comics published the series from 2002 through 2008, with the story concluding after 60 issues.

Eliza Clark is the series' showrunner, with Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, and Vaughan producing. Ben Schnetzer stars as Yorick Brown, the last mammal on Earth carrying a y-chromosome after all other males on the planet die at the same time, leaving no explanation for their deaths or Yorick's survival. Schnetzer took over the role after Barry Keoghan dropped out.

The series also stars Imogen Poots as Hero Brown, Yorick's sister, and Diane Lane as their mother, Senator Jennifer Brown. Lashana Lynch plays Agent 355, a member of a secret organization tasked with protecting Yorick. The cast also includes Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Timothy Hutton.

FX has been working on its Y: The Last Man adaptation since 2015. Filming was underway until production halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the production freeze, Vaughan still hoped the series would debut in 2020. "The show must go on! Sorry for two Hollywood sellout posts in one day, but I just got back from the writers' room for Y (still coming to FX in 2020!), and I'm very pleased to say the series is in excellent hands with new showrunner [Eliza Clark] and her intimidating squad of all-stars," Vaughan wrote on Instagram. "TV is goddamn hard, and if the last 17 years have taught co-creator [Pia Guerra] and me anything, it's that our story is particularly challenging to adapt, so I'm very grateful to everyone who's helped get Yorick & Co. this far, especially Michael Green and Aïda Croal. Anyway, stay tuned, very good (monkey) sh-t coming your way soon."

Earlier this year, John Landgraf, the chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions, expressed high hopes for the series. "We've seen five, six scripts. We haven't scheduled it because it hasn't gone into production," he said. "We changed showrunners and did a big reboot on it. But that seems to be going well."

According to the network's synopsis of the show, "Y traverses a post-apocalyptic world in which a cataclysmic event has decimated every male mammal save for one lone human. The new world order of women will explore gender, race, class, and survival."