Y: The Last Man is a post-apocalyptic science fiction comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo from 2002 through 2008.
The series centers on Yorick Brown and his pet Capuchin monkey Ampersand, the only males who survived the apparent global die-off.
[1] On July 17, 2002, all living mammals with a Y chromosome—including embryos and sperm—simultaneously die, with the exception of a young amateur escape artist named Yorick Brown and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand.
Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse, and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of men, and the belief that, barring a rapid, major scientific breakthrough or other extraordinary event, humanity is doomed to extinction.
The two travel to meet geneticist and cloning expert Dr. Allison Mann, who works to discover why Yorick survived and find a way to save humankind.
During the trip, the group is chased by multiple parties who know of Yorick's existence and want to capture or kill him for their own purposes, including an Israeli army commando named Alter, the militant Daughters of the Amazon, and a ninja.
He believes Ampersand had been inadvertently shielded by what killed off other Y-chromosome lifeforms as a result of one of his experiments and that this protection was transferred to Yorick via pathogens.
Decades later, Dr. Mann has succeeded in cloning Yorick seventeen times, along with thousands of copies of a small number of deceased males.
The source of the plague that wiped out every living mammal with a Y chromosome except Yorick Brown, Ampersand, and Doctor Matsumori is never fully explained.
Discussing the cause of the plague, Vaughan is quoted as saying: I feel that there is a definitive explanation, but I like that people don't necessarily know what it is.
[2]Three explanations are considered by the protagonists: Other explanations put forth in the book include: The film rights to the series were acquired by New Line Cinema (a sister company to Vertigo), and in July 2007 screenwriter Carl Ellsworth and director D. J. Caruso were attached to the project with David S. Goyer as a producer.
Although Vintar's draft was faithful to the original comic book, the higher-ups at New Line Cinema seemed unable to fully embrace the material.
[11] In March 2012, former Jericho writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia entered final negotiations to write New Line's adaptation of the series, following in the footsteps of Vintar, Vaughan, and Ellsworth.
[12] Reports in September 2012 suggested New Line was enthusiastic about the draft screenplay produced by Federman and Scaia, and had begun meeting potential directors to hire for the project.
[15] However, in January 2014, Brian K. Vaughan stated, "It's my understanding that the rights to Y: The Last Man will revert to co-creator Pia Guerra and me for the first time in a decade if the planned New Line adaptation doesn't start shooting in the next few months.
[23][24] On April 5, 2018, FX announced it had handed out a formal pilot order and enlisted Aida Mashaka Croal to serve as co-showrunner alongside Green, with Melina Matsoukas as director.
In October 2021, the series was canceled after one season, with FX citing financial disagreements over requests to extend the cast's contract by $3 million on renewal.
"[38] Dan Phillips of IGN felt that "the conclusion of Y: The Last Man is as close to a perfect ending as you're likely to see anywhere in the history of comics.
"[39] Later reception was more mixed, with SyFy Wire writing that "the premise and execution are lazy, problematic" and "someone’s best imitation of what they think a feminist plot would be"[40] and Screen Rant writing of the series' "problematic treatment of trans men" and unintentional implication that "gender identity is a matter of choice.