The Last Man’ Was Abruptly Canceled – The Hollywood Reporter

It took 14 years to bring Brian K. Vaughan’s beloved Y: The Last Man to the screen. And now that the show is finally airing — after a major recasting, a showrunner change and even a move to a new platform — FX on Hulu abruptly canceled the drama Sunday, after airing only seven of its planned 10 episodes.

FX, the basic cable network overseen by CEO John Landgraf, rarely cancels its scripted content and instead tends to announce final seasons for its originals. It’s also incredibly rare for the network, which became part of the Disney fold a few years ago, to lower the ax on shows that are still running as its creator-friendly execs opt instead to wait to gather data for things like delayed viewing and digital returns. But that oddly wasn’t what transpired with Y: The Last Man, which won’t wrap its freshman season until Nov. 1.

So, what happened?

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that execs at FX had to make a decision on the future of the series by Oct. 15, which was the date that options on the cast of Y:TLM expired. FX, which landed rights to the IP in 2015, picked the drama up to pilot in April 2018 and, three months later, cast Barry Keoghan and Diane Lane in leading roles. FX ordered Y to series in February 2019.

Production, however, failed to begin right away as FX in April 2019 parted ways with original showrunners Michael Green (who was hired in late 2016) and Jessica Jones alum Aida Croal (who joined during the pilot). Croal and Green cited creative differences as the reason for their departure at the time. Green’s pitch, Vaughan raved to THR in late 2017, explored toxic masculinity. Eliza Clark (Animal Kingdom, The Killing) was tapped as showrunner in June 2019 as FX hoped to get the series back on track.

Instead, further delays followed. Word came in February 2020 that Dunkirk breakout Keoghan — who was poised to star as last man on earth Yorick — was being recast. Ben Schnetzer (Warcraft, Pride) was tapped to lead the cast by the end of that same month. Days later, the COVID-19 pandemic would create another, albeit unplanned, delay during which Y was moved from a linear launch on FX to its hub on Disney-owned Hulu as streaming took center stage across the industry.

Production on Y — including on the new pilot — would not formally begin until late October 2020, years after Lane and co-stars Amber Tamblyn and Marin Ireland originally signed on. Other original stars from Green and Croal’s pilot, including Lashana Lynch and Imogen Poots, were recast, with the series enlisting Ashley Romans, Olivia Thirlby and Elliot Fletcher.

Because of the delays amid the showrunner and cast changes, FX had to extend options on original Y stars, including Lane. And, because of the pandemic-related production shutdown, also pay to extend the options of Schnetzer and other new castmembers. Those cast extensions added up despite the fact that production came in under its $8.5 million-per-episode…