FX’s ‘Y: The Last Man’ TV Series Finds A New Showrunner
FX has been developing a TV adaptation ofBrian K. VaughanandPia Guerra’s acclaimed comic seriesY: The Last Manfor years, going as far as to commission a pilot that was picked up to series earlier this year. That seemed like great news, but the stumbles for this property continued: a few months ago, the serieslostshowrunnersAida Mashaka CroalandMichael Greendue to “creative differences;” thankfully, FX decided to continue moving forward with it anyway.
The search was on to find a replacement, and now that search is over:Eliza Clark, who previously worked onAnimal KingdomandThe Killing, has been hired to take over as the new showrunner.
Deadline reports that Clark is now overseeing the show, and that the pilot, which was directed byMelina Matsoukas(Insecure,the upcomingQueen + Slim) and already completed, “is expected to undergo some changes” under her new leadership. The show’s logline reads: “Ytraverses a post-apocalyptic world in which a cataclysmic event has decimated every male save for one lone human. The new world order of women will explore gender, race, class and survival.” (Don’t forget aboutthe main character’s pet monkey, named Ampersand.)
Diane Lane,Barry Keoghan,Imogen Poots,Lashana Lynch,Juliana Canfield,Marin Ireland, andAmber Tamblynhave already signed on to star.
“A decade ago I devoured the completeY: The Last Man seriescover to cover, imagining how it might take shape on screen,” Clark said in a statement. “It introduced me to the amazing work of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra and the complex, fascinating world of Y. I’m thrilled to tell this story and to be working with this immensely talented cast.”
Nina Jacobson(The Hunger Games, Crazy Rich Asians), who serves as one of the show’s executive producers, said, “We were chasing Eliza Clark as a writer long before we knew that she shared our obsession withY: The Last Man.Eli’s singular voice and insight into the world and themes ofYmake her uniquely suited to bring this story to life.”
In addition to writing and executive producing shows likeAnimal KingdomandExtant, Clark previously adapted author Margaret Atwood’sMaddAddamtrilogy into a series for director Darren Aronofsky. HBO ultimately passed on the project back in 2016, but last we heard, Aronofsky was still interested in making it elsewhere;at the time, he had especially kind things to say about Clark’s screenwriting contributions:
“We just went with the best writer. Her work is amazing. It was interesting to see how her brain worked and processed to bring it all into a cohesive universe. Figuring out how to focus it into a ten-episode series was really challenging. It is such a massive, amazing piece, and we are just trying to find the right home.”
FX CEOJohn Landgrafpreviously revealed thatYwould premieresometime in2020, so I expect that to hold even with the tweaks being made to the pilot episode.
