‘Y: The Last Man’ Starts Production With Cast Changes As Ashley Romans & Olivia Thirlby Join FX On Hulu Series

Production has started in Toronto on Y: The Last Man, the upcoming Diane Lane-starring FX on Hulu drama series based on the Eisner Award-winning DC Comics series.

There are two new cast changes on the project as Ashley Romans and Olivia Thirlby have joined the series, replacing originally cast Lashana Lynch and Imogen Poots, respectively. Romans will play Agent 355; Thirlby will play Hero Brown. In February, Ben Schnetzer was cast as the male lead Yorick Brown, replacing Barry Keoghan who had exited the projects. Also no longer part of the series is Timothy Hutton, who played the U.S. President in the original pilot. That part is believed to have been reworked as part of many creative changes on the show. Hutton also was replaced on the upcoming Leverage reboot after he faced sexual assault allegations in March.

With new showrunner Eliza Clark, which was brought in after the Y pilot had been picked up to series last year, the revamped series was about to start shooting in March when all production was forced to shut down because of the fast growing coronavirus outbreak. Shooting got underway this week in Toronto, FX on Hulu original programming president Nick Grad said Thursday.

Lane, Romans, Schnetzer, Thirlby, Amber Tamblyn, Marin Ireland, Diana Bang, Elliot Fletcher and Juliana Canfield star the the series, based on the comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which a cataclysmic event decimates every mammal with a Y chromosome but for one cisgender man and his pet monkey. The series follows the survivors in this new world as they struggle with their efforts to restore what was lost and the opportunity to build something better.

The first two episodes are written by Clark and directed by Louise Friedberg; all episodes of the inaugural season will be directed by women and the production has a significant number of female department heads.

The FX Productions project is produced by Clark, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force, along with Nellie Reed. Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda, Vaughan and Melina Matsoukas are executive producers.

Y: The Last Man is scheduled to air sometime in 2021.

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