The Long-Awaited Adaptation of Vertigo’s Y: The Last Man Finally Has a Cast & It Was Worth the Wait
For pretty much as long as Y: The Last Man has existed, fans have been eagerly waiting for a film or television adaptation, and passing the time fan-casting their dream version. I remember seeing the comic book’s co-creator and artist, Pia Guerra, on a Comic-Con panel many years ago, get asked by a fan for her dream casting choices for the lead character of Yorick Brown and his sister Hero. She said her dream pairing was real-life siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal. That’s how long we’ve been waiting for this. (As much as I love both the Gyllenhaals, they’ve aged out of those early-20s characters by quite some time.)
Just three months after FX announced they’d be turning Guerra and Brian K. Vaughan’s beloved graphic novels into a series with Luke Cage’s Aida Mashaka Croal and American Gods’ Michael Green serving as co-showrunners, the network has announced their cast and it is stellar.
Y: The Last Man takes place in the immediate aftermath of every man on earth inexplicably dies, save for ultra-regular, kinda basic dude Yorick and his pet capuchin monkey, Ampersand. In the wake of this “gendercide,” Yorick sets out to reunite with his girlfriend, Beth, who is working abroad in Australia at the time.
image: Vertigo/DC Comics
Here’s the cast FX has assembled:
Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, The killing of a Sacred Deer) as Yorick, the last (human) man on earth.
Imogen Poots (Green Room, 28 Weeks Later) as Hero, Yorick’s sister, and one-time member of the Daughters of the Amazon, a fanatical cult of sorts, dedicated to eradicating patriarchal symbols and systems in the post-plague world.
Diane Lane as Senator Jennifer Brown, Yorick and Hero’s mother.
Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) as Agent 355 (pronounced three-fifty-five), a secret agent of a mysterious government organization called the Culper Ring and Yorick’s assigned bodyguard.
Juliana Canfield (Succession) as Beth.
image: Yale School of Drama
Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete, Masters of Sex) as Nora, the president’s assistant. I could be wrong (yell at me in the comments if I am) but I don’t remember this character from the books. But I adore Marin Ireland so I am all for inventing roles for her.
As far as main characters go, that still leaves casting to be announced for experimental geneticist Dr. Allison Mann.
What do you all think of the cast of Y: The Last Man?
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: Vertigo/DC Comics)
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