NOVEMBER 14, 2016 1:54pm PT by Lesley Goldberg
'Y: The Last Man' FX Series Taps Showrunner (Exclusive)

FX has found its man for Y: The Last Man.

The cable network has tapped Michael Green to serve as showrunner on its planned adaptation of graphic novel Y: The Last Man, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Green, who is currently co-showrunning Starz's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods alongside Bryan Fuller, will co-write the script for Y: The Last Man alongside comic book creator Brian K. Vaughan. The project, eyed as an ongoing drama series, is still in development. FX declined comment.

Y: The Last Man ranks as one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed comic book series of all time. The Vertigo title was first launched in 2002 and revolves around Yorick Brown — the last surviving human with a Y chromosome — and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand. The series follows escape artist Yorick after the mysterious plague as he sets out to find what might have wiped out the world's male chromosomes. The series, written and created by Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra, ran for 60 issues and has been collected in multiple graphic novels.

For his part, Green's credits also include the Murder on the Orient Express reboot, tie Blade Runner sequel, Logan and Green Lantern. On the TV side, his résumé includes The River, Heroes, Everwood, Smallville and Kings. He's repped by WME, 3 Arts and Felker Toczek.

Produced by FX and FX Productions, the potential Y: The Last Man series hails from Color Force's Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, who recently re-upped their overall deal with FXP. The duo exec produced critical darling The People v. O.J. Simpson.

THRfirst broke the news that Y: The Last Man is being adapted for TV more than a year ago. The beloved comic series was previously eyed for the big-screen before rights reverted to Vaughan.

FX’s “Y: The Last Man” pilot has set its main cast.

Diane Lane has signed on to star in the drama series pilot, which is simply titled “Y,” along with Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield and Marin Ireland.

Based on DC Comics’ acclaimed series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, the project 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.

Keoghan will play Yorick Brown, the main character from the graphic novels on which the show is based. He is described as a young man quick to use humor to deflect from his problems who may be the lone male survivor of a worldwide plague.

Keoghan is known for his roles in films like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” Both roles earned him a spot on Variety’s “10 Actors to Watch” for 2017. He is repped by WME, Management 360, and Troika.

Poots will play Hero Brown, Yorick’s sister. She is a tough and confident EMT who nurses a deep emotional trauma that often leads her to cross personal and professional lines.

Poots broke out in the film “28 Weeks Later,” and has gone on to star in films like “Green Room,” “Knight of Cups,” and “I Kill Giants.” Her television credits include Showtime’s “Roadies,” BBC’s “Miss Austen Regrets,” and BBC’s “Christopher and His Kind.” She is repped by CAA and Troika.

Lane will star as Senator Jennifer Brown, Yorick and Hero’s mother. A Junior Senator in her first term, Senator Brown has already made a name for herself in political circles for her willingness to put personal ideals above politics.

Lane is an Academy Award known for her roles in films like “Unfaithful,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” “Chaplin,” “Hollywoodland,” “Nights in Rodanthe,” “Trumbo” and more. Lane’s current projects include a co-starring role in the sixth and final season of “House of Cards” and Matthew Weiner’s “The Romanoffs” for Amazon. She is repped by UTA.

Lynch will play Agent 355, a Secret Service agent who performs the duties of her job with the utmost professionalism, even under the most unexpected set of circumstances. Lynch recently secured a role in the upcoming Marvel film “Captain Marvel.” Previously, she was seen in the lead role of Shonda Rhimes’ ABC show “Still Star-Crossed” and also appears as a lead in the miniseries “Bulletproof” airing later this year. She is repped by ICM, Alan Siegel Entertainment, and BWH Agency.

Canfield will play Beth. A Brooklyn-based knife maker, Beth grew up on a farm and went to New York to experience the big city. She finds something endearing about the hapless Yorick and when they’re together, there’s the undeniable spark of two kids in love. Canfield currently appears in a recurring role on the HBO series “Succession.” She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She is repped by ICM and Brookside Management.

Finally, Ireland will play Nora, the President’s senior assistant and right hand. She effortlessly balances family life with a job navigating the corridors of power. Ireland has appeared in shows like “Sneaky Pete,” “Girls,” “Homeland,” “Masters of Sex,” and “The Slap.” Most recently she was seen in the Lifetime movie “Flint,” about the Flint water crisis, playing activist Melissa Mays. She is repped by ICM and Untitled Entertainment.

Michael Green and Aida Mashaka Croal are set to serve as co-showrunners on the project, and will executive produce alongside Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force. Vaughan will also executive produce. Melina Matsoukas will direct the pilot and also serve as an executive producer.

An adaptation of “Y: The Last Man” has long been in the works. It was originally set up as a film before FX acquired the rights to develop it as a series. The cabler ordered the project to pilot back in April.

FX’s next TV project is brought to you by the letter “Y.”

The cable net has handed a series order to its long-gestating adaptation of Y: The Last Man, based on Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic book series.

Initially ordered to pilot last April, the drama — simply titled Y — takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a cataclysmic event has decimated every male except for one lone human, Yorick. In his travels, Yorick encounters a new world order of women who explore gender, race, class and survival.

Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk) will star as Yorick, with Oscar nominee Diane Lane, Amber Tamblyn (Two and a Half Men), Imogen Poots (Roadies), Lashana Lynch (Still Star-Crossed), Juliana Canfield (Succession) and Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete) rounding out the ensemble.

Michael Green (American Gods) and Aďda Mashaka Croal (Marvel’s Luke Cage) will serve as co-showrunners and will executive-produce with Nina Jacobson (Pose), Brad Simpson (American Crime Story) and Y: The Last Man co-author Vaughan.

“Y: The Last Man is a towering achievement among graphic novel storytelling and it’s been rewarding to work with this outstanding team,” said Nick Grad, FX’s co-president of original programming. “Michael Green and Aďda Mashaka Croal have partnered with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson to deliver a stunning new expression of this fascinating and timely story. Melina Matsoukas, who directed the pilot, did an incredible job bringing it to life with Diane Lane and this stellar cast.”

Added Green and Croal: “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.”

Y is slated for a 2020 premiere, though an exact episode count has yet to be announced.

The showrunners on the “Y: The Last Man” series have left the project.

Variety has confirmed that series showrunners Michael Green and Aďda Mashaka Croal have departed the series due to creative differences. FX is still planning to move forward with the series with its current cast. Diane Lane stars, leading an ensemble cast featuring Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, and Amber Tamblyn.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Green and Croal said “FX has decided not to move forward with out series in its current form.” They then went on to thank the cast and crew that came together to create the pilot for the drama, which is based on the Vertigo Comics series of the same name by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.

“We hoped to reward their talent and their trust not just with success but with a show that had something to say, in a time when things must be said. As Y fans ourselves, we hope the future allows just that.”

“Y,” as the FX adaptation was known, was ordered to series in February. The source material explores a world in which every male mammal on earth has died, except for a young man named Yorick and his helper monkey, Ampersand.

“Y: The Last Man” has a long development history, with the rights first being acquired by New Line for a potential feature film more than a decade ago. As recently as 2013, Dan Trachtenberg had been tapped to direct a film adaptation that never came to fruition. After New Line’s rights lapsed, FX began work on a series adaptation that has been in development for more than two years.

FX’s adaptation of Y: The Last Man has suffered another setback, as sources say the lead role of Yorick will be recast, Collider has exclusively learned.

Rising star Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) had been cast as Yorick Brown, who finds himself as the last living male on Earth after a cataclysmic event wipes out every other man on the planet. With the help of his pet monkey Ampersand, Yorick sets out to find his girlfriend Beth, and together they end up traversing a post-apocalyptic world in which women call the shots.

Based on the comic book by Brian K. Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra, the long-gestating series is set to explore themes of “gender, race, class and survival.” Last summer, Eliza Clark (The Killing) was brought in to replace original showrunners Aďda Mashaka Croal and Michael Green, who exited the project due to “creative differences.”

Y: The Last Man already boasts a top-notch female cast that includes Diane Lane, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland and Amber Tamblyn. Lane will play Yorick’s mother, a U.S. Senator. It’s unclear whether the series remains on track for a late 2020 release, or if we’ll have to wait until early next year for it.

Keoghan broke out in 2017 with back-to-back turns in Christopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk and A24’s psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He went on to star in the excellent indie movie American Animals and HBO’s award-winning miniseries Chernobyl. Keoghan will soon be seen as Druig in Marvel’s Eternals, and he has also wrapped David Lowery‘s Green Knight, which A24 will release later this year. Sources did not provide a reason for his exit.

EBRUARY 28, 2020 3:30pm PT by Lesley Goldberg
'Y: The Last Man' FX Drama Finds Its New Leading Man

'Warcraft' alum Ben Schnetzer will take over the role previously played by Barry Keoghan.

Warcraft and Pride alum Ben Schnetzer has been tapped to star in the cabler's adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's beloved comic series. Schnetzer will take over the role of Yorick Brown — the last living cisgender man on Earth — from Barry Keoghan, who departed the drama starring Diane Lane in early February. A casting search for the central role had been going on for the past month, with new showrunner Eliza Clark (TNT's Animal Kingdom) leading the charge alongside the John Landgraf-led network. Keoghan, who has been attached to the series since July 2018, is the only castmember being recast (though Yorick's monkey may be replaced by CGI).

Ordered to series in 2018, Y follows escape artist Yorick after a mysterious plague as he sets out to find what might have wiped out the male chromosome. Lane, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland and Amber Tamblyn round out the cast. The series was poised to make its FX debut this year, though now with Keoghan's central scenes having to be reshot, that will without a doubt derail those plans.

Schnetzer's credits include Snowden, The Book Thief and Epix limited series The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair. He's repped by Gersh and attorneys David Weber and Len Sorenson.

The recasting has been the latest wrinkle in the years-long saga to bring Y: The Last Man to the screen. The title ranks as one of the most critically acclaimed comic book series of all time. The DC Comics/Vertigo title was first launched in 2002 and was written and created by Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra. It ran for 60 issues and has been collected in multiple graphic novels.

FX put the Y adaptation into development in late 2015 after Vaughan reacquired the rights to his franchise; they'd previously been tied up by New Line, which ultimately failed to get an effort on the screen. Vaughan told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2017 that he "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." FX and Vaughan tapped Michael Green and Aida Croal as showrunners. "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."

Green and Croal departed the series in April 2019 following creative differences with the network and producers. Clark, the new showrunner, was hired two months later and is said to be making her mark on the beloved title. It's unclear if original pilot director Melina Matsoukas will be involved in the pilot reshoots or if the original episode will be entirely redone.

They were all gone… except one. Y: The Last Man, a new show based on DC Comics’ acclaimed series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, premieres September 13. Streaming exclusively on FX on Hulu.