It premiered on September 13, 2021, on FX on Hulu,[2][3] and stars Diane Lane, Ashley Romans, Ben Schnetzer, Olivia Thirlby, and Amber Tamblyn.

The producers aimed to update and expand on the ramifications of this, to reflect changing societal attitudes in the West toward gender in the almost two decades since the comic began.

The showrunners also added a trans male character to the regular cast (Sam Jordan, played by Elliot Fletcher), who does not have a direct counterpart in the original comic, to expand on this world-building.

And so, I just think it flips the traditional idea of gender completely on its head, and so I was very comfortable joining a project that knew that ahead of time and committed to it fully.

"[7] Showrunner Eliza Clark explained that the writing team tried to analyze the logical ripple effects of what would happen if all people with Y chromosomes died instantaneously.

"[7] Clark went on to say, that while all people with Y chromosomes are suddenly killed off, essentially removing the gender binary divide among the survivors, the resulting society that develops over the course of the series is not egalitarian.

The presidential line of succession is decimated, losing the Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the Senate, and (seemingly) all Cabinet officials.

Even Kimberly Campbell's surviving Republican caucus considers Oliver a fringe lunatic, leaving them conflicted about pushing for her to replace Brown as president.

[8] The effect of the die-off on other countries is not discussed in detail in the first season, in part because the world has been thrown into such chaos that even Jennifer Brown's fragile emergency administration still doesn't know.

[15] In January 2018, FX CEO John Landgraf commented on the series' status during the annual Television Critics Association winter press tour saying, "[We feel] pretty optimistic, not quite at a final decision point.

Green was expected to co-showrun the series with Aida Mashaka Croal, both of whom were also set to executive produce alongside Melina Matsoukas, Jacobson, Simpson, and Vaughan.

[17] In February 2019, it was announced at the Television Critics Association's annual winter press tour that the production had been given a series order for a first season, expected to premiere in 2020.

[3] In July 2018, it was announced that Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, Amber Tamblyn, and Timothy Hutton had been cast in the pilot's main roles.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Y: The Last Man makes a few key updates to its source material and boasts a number of incredible performances, but this highly anticipated adaptation can't help but feel like a bit of a letdown in a world full of dystopian realities.

"[37] Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone gave it 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "A solid but frustrating show that frequently struggles to embrace what's unique about itself.

"[38] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly gave it a "C" grade and wrote, "there's a basic lack of flair in the storytelling" and "even if you never read the comic book, you've seen this all before.

"[39] From The Guardian, Joel Golby notes that its "...telling good, human stories against a backdrop of unbelievable sci-fi architecture makes for something utterly gripping"[40] while Lucy Mangan dismissed the series as "a stale, male manbaby mess.

"[41] Kelly Lawler of USA Today called it a "flawed but vibrant epic" and stated that the show "doesn't quite achieve the mastery and impact of its source material but is certainly a worthy adaptation.

[43] Caroline Framke of Variety felt that "the real undoing of Y: The Last Man, at least in the first six episodes provided to press ahead of the show's premiere, is that it takes itself too seriously to allow for many other emotions beyond 'desperate' and 'grieving'.

[49] Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 18 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, reported that Y: The Last Man was the second most-anticipated new television series of September 2021.