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Coming exclusively to Hulu on September 13, 2021.
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Every creature on Earth with a Y chromosome has died…
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…with the exception of Yorick Brown (played by Ben Schnetzer).
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His pet monkey Ampersand, also male, somehow survived.
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They begin their journey across the United States to figure out what’s going on.
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Shortly after the acting president dies, so does the man holding him up—and nearly every other man on Earth.
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After the genocide wipes out most men, Yorick’s mom (played by Diane Lane) assumes control of a tumultuous United States.
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Agent 355 (played by Ashley Romans) is assigned to find and protect Yorick.
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Agent 355, seen here finding and protecting.
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The surviving women have very different ideas about where humanity should go from here.
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Facing off during uneasy times.
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The trailer includes one joke about “repopulation” because of course it does.
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Getting her steps in.
A TV series based on Y: The Last Man, the award-winning Vertigo comic series about a sex-specific apocalypse, has always seemed inevitable, but ever since the comic series wrapped in 2008, plans for a live-action adaptation have lingered in apparent development hell. That all changes next month, when a TV series finally launches on Hulu. The news came in the form of a trailer that shows off the series’ stars while explaining its peculiar twist on a society-crushing disease.
The original comics, written by former Lost writer/producer Brian K. Vaughan (also involved with beloved comic series like Saga and Paper Girls), revolved around the simultaneous death of everything on Earth with a Y chromosome, humans and animals alike. Thursday’s new trailer recaps the same premise by focusing on the president of the United States succumbing to a bloody collapse, followed by apparently every other man on the planet… save one.
That man, Yorick Brown (played by Ben Schnetzer), begins making his way across a decimated United States, and this TV version matches the comics by including his pet monkey named Ampersand (who also has a Y chromosome). Meanwhile, his mother, Senator Jennifer Brown (played by Diane Lane), apparently assumes control as president of the United States. That’s a twist on the original comics, which had Yorick’s mother in Congress but not necessarily promoted to the top of the pecking order.
The rest of the premiere trailer requires reading between the lines based on what we know of the original comics. The easiest connection to draw comes from the character of Agent 355 (played by Ashley Romans), a member of a clandestine American military group assigned to protect Yorick, and we see 355 kick butt and activate explosives on Yorick’s behalf. We also see a hint of rival factions among the surviving women, though the trailer doesn’t clarify whether they’re a one-for-one match for the apocalyptic Daughters of the Amazon. There are also brief flashes of original series characters like Dr. Allison Mann (played by Diana Bang) and Yorick’s sister Hero Brown (played by Olivia Thirlby).
A possible live-action take of Y: The Last Man has bounced around for over a decade; developments included a feature-length movie that never moved into production, a 2018 TV pilot that was scrapped, a change of showrunners, and a recasting of the lead role of Yorick. It’s unclear whether its exclusive home on Hulu will be a boon for the series, though we’re hopeful that the plot’s emphasis on a predominately female cast (and FX’s insistence that the whole first season is directed by women) will offer a breath of fresh air on TV screens starting September 13.
Listing image by FX
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1785300