‘Y: The Last Man’s Showrunner Talks Plans for Its Future Post-Cancellation

When it was first announced in 2015 that FX would be adapting  Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic book series Y: The Last Man, it was a source of excitement. During a time in TV when networks are constantly trying to emulate everything from The Walking Dead to Game of Thrones, the post-apocalypse road trip saga was positioned to be FX’s next big drama. Six years, a showrunner change, and one global pandemic later, Y: The Last Man finally premiered… Only to be canceled three episodes before its Season 1 finale.

It was a surprising move from a network known for putting its creators first and giving its shows room to grow. So what happened? Ahead of Season 1’s finale, series showrunner Eliza Clark broke down everything she knew about her series’ abrupt ending. Clark also elaborated on Season 1’s ending, spilled on where she wants the sci-fi drama to go, and explained why she still sees a future for Y: The Last Man. Spoilers ahead for Y: The Last Man Episode 10.

Decider: In the finale, the Amazons face off against this collection of inmates that have been housing Yorick [Ben Schnetzer], Agent 355 [Ashley Romans], and Dr. Mann [Diana Bang]. It’s so difficult to watch because you’ve fallen in love with the characters from both of these sides. So what went into creating this highly tense situation?

Eliza Clark: That’s the best kind, I think. It’s also, by the way, war in general. There’s no winner. It has something to say about violence, in that way.

Roxanne’s [Missi Pyle] group are the bad guys in that scenario. That’s what you realize and what Nora [Marin Ireland] is realizing as she’s looking around. So much of that shoot out, battle thing is told from her perspective. When she’s looking around and she’s seeing these young girls, and they’re all dressed in pink as they’re scared and cowering and afraid. She looks at Roxanne, and she sees this woman who, as we learn in Episode 8, has taken on a new persona and decided to thrive in the post-apocalyptic world as different version of herself. What she’s realizing is this is a suicide mission, and Roxanne does care what happens to them. So that’s part of the tension. You’re watching the leader of one of these groups who doesn’t necessarily expect to make it out of this alive.

The other group are people who have been discarded by society deemed to be killers, deemed to be “bad people.” And instead, they have figured out a way to live peacefully in community with one another. Part of the setting of that battle is Main Street in Marysville [Ohio], where you can see their communal food set up and their free library and the lights stay strung across the street so that they can have parties every Saturday and celebrate birthdays they missed while they were in prison and their beehives and solar panels. This group is the first community that really works. They are a community that’s really looking toward the future, and they’re being taken down. They’re being attacked by a community that is obsessed with past in some ways. The Amazons, under Roxanne’s leadership, they are spending a lot of time hating people who are gone.

One of the big points in the finale is that Yorick finally chooses to continue his journey to San Francisco, even though he’s given an out by Agent 355. Why was it important to end Season 1 on him making this choice?

Because he, like all the other characters in the story, has also undergone his own identity journey this season. He begins the series as a person who is floundering and who doesn’t have a lot of ambition and is kind of a fuck up. He has attached himself to his girlfriend because she’s ambitious, she’s impressive, and as long as he’s a very good boyfriend to her, he feels like he can get away with that as his identity. Over the course of the season, I think he’s growing up.

He is the one who survived. He doesn’t feel like a particularly good representative of cis men. Episode 10 in particular is a really big episode for him. He chooses to sleep with Sonia [Kristen Gutoskie], and this is a person who is so different from that. She tells him that she’s done terrible things, and for the first time, he feels like he’s being seen for who he is, and he’s seeing her for who she is. There’s no expectations. It’s just two people meeting each other in the present. Then he has finally, by the end of the season, realized that he has to do something to save the world, but he doesn’t want to be a piece of cargo on that mission. He wants to actually step up. He asks 355 to teach him, and 355 has changed too. She has been moved by her relationship with these two people, and she’s finally had a good night’s sleep. They’re going to be a new trio going into Season 2.

Do you know why the cancellation was announced before the final three episodes?

Essentially what happened was, the cancellation itself was not based on anything creative or even a complete set of data. This has been reported a little bit, and it’s true. Because of COVID, things got pushed, and we were up against our actors’ deals being up and FX was gonna have to spend a lot of money to pick up the season, and they decided not to. I think they would have liked to have more time, but the actors’ deals were up on October 15th.

They were not planning to announce it. But the reason I announced it was because it had gotten out. I wanted to take control of that situation. But nobody would have chosen to announce it when we did. FX has been an amazing partner in this, and I think they were also bummed not to have more time. I think they really liked the show creatively. I can’t pretend to know everything that goes into these kinds of decisions, but ultimately I am very proud of the show and I believe that we can find a new home for it.

The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that part of the cancellation was because FX had to decide whether or not to renew it without seeing many numbers from Hulu. Did you ever have any idea of what the viewership numbers were for the show?

While I never knew numbers, I knew that certain episodes declined. I definitely think some of the numbers went down. From what to what, I have literally no idea. But I also think that that’s kind of the way people watch television right now.

You let things build up and then you binge watch it. There are tons of people who — and this is anecdotal — but lots of people are like “Wait, I was gonna watch the whole season all at once.” I think that’s how people watch streaming shows. It’s not really anyone’s fault, but it didn’t get the amount of time it needed to gain the audience that is out there for it.

Do you think the cost of the delays you previously mentioned affected the decision?

I would imagine yes. With an incomplete set of data, picking it up for a second season without knowing how it was gonna perform, I think, was hard for them because they had spent so much time and money trying to get it onto the screen. But the truth is we made the show, we came in under budget, and once we started we were off to the races. So, the show unfortunately was kind of hobbled by a bunch of things that were beyond our control. But, we started production of Episode 1 in October of last year, and we are about to air the season finale. It was a year essentially of making it.

I’ve heard that HBO or HBO Max could be a possible home for the show in the future. Is that still the case?

We are still sort of putting together our plans, so I can’t really speak to that. But more soon.

What can you tell me about the possible future of Y: The Last Man?

I have a pitch for Season 2 that I think is pretty awesome. As you have seen watching Episode 10, it ends on a cliffhanger. We have a united trio who are heading to the coordinates given to them by the Culper Ring. And 355, she has spent her entire life working for this organization. Over the course of Season 1, [she] has started to question whether that was good or bad. So, she is nervous, but they’re gonna still go. What will they find when they get there? Will they find Jennifer [Diane Lane] and Beth [Juliana Canfield ] and Sam [Elliot Fletcher] maybe?

We have a new version of the Amazons now run by Nora, who we now realize is Victoria, and they know that Yorick is alive. We also have Kimberly [Amber Tamblyn], who also knows that Yorick is alive. Her interpretation of that dream she has in Episode 10 is that the god has ordained that Yorick will give her a baby. So, we are going to see the birth of a new religion, perhaps, from Kimberly’s story.

Part of the fun now is that all of these characters who have had these disparate story lines, now they all know that Yorick is alive and that is going to change everything for Season 2. The other thing that’s exciting about Season 2 is that so much of what Season 1 was, was these characters kind of clinging to who they were before, trying to find some way back to it. At the end of the season, either for good or for bad, they’re realizing that the world is not coming back in the exact way that it was. They are gonna have to change and transform, and so they do. Season 2 gets to be that. Now they are fully transformed and the leash is off.

Now I’m really upset that FX canceled Season 2 because I would love to see Kimberly lead a new religion.

It’s gonna be terrifying. My favorite thing about Kimberly is that sex dream, I don’t think she has ever had a dream like that before. Instead of being like “Whoa, that was crazy” she’s like “That must have been a sign.” She’s like “I would not have had such a sexy dream if it were not for God.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve said before that you ha plans for five seasons of the show?

Yeah, I had sort of a rough idea that the show would be about five seasons. That still remains true. Yes, that is what I think the show is. Perhaps it could be three or four, but it certainly shouldn’t be one.

What would Season 3 be like? How would you describe it?

I think Season 3 opens up a whole new set of worlds that come crashing into them. Part of what we are going to learn in Season 2 is about the research that Allison was doing and how that may or may not have had something to do with what happened to the world. Season 3 is, I think, all of the mysteries that are uncovered in Season 2 will be in pursuit of those…It’s hard to talk about it without giving spoilers. So suffice to say it’s going to be awesome.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Watch Y: The Last Man on FX on Hulu