Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Vertigo comic series Y: The Last Man ran 60 issues over the course of six years. It tells a long, sweeping, epic story that proved very difficult for Hollywood to adapt in the years since its conclusion. After many attempts in multiple mediums, it was showrunner Eliza Clark’s version that finally was made. However, before the first season could even finish, FX on Hulu pulled the plug on the series, four seasons before Clark’s full version could be realised.
“Generally speaking, I feel like television is best at about five seasons,” Clark told Polygon a few months ago. And that plan was beginning to unfold before the show was abruptly cancelled last month. “FX was in an unfortunate position of having to make a decision about [renewing] the show without a lot of data,” she said in a new interview with TV Insider. “I don’t think it was a creative decision, and FX really liked our season two pitch, so I am optimistic about our ability to find another home for the show. There’s so much more story to tell.”
In the same interview, Clark suggests that at least her plan for season two would have a different feel from the very meticulous, world-building nature of season one. “The second season is primed to be extremely fun and propulsive,” she said. “So much of the first season is about who these people are going to become. By the end of the first 10 episodes, they’re becoming something new and next season is about stepping into those personas.”
Clark also spoke to Vulture about the show and in that must-read interview, gave some specific teases about places that second season would go. She explains that Kimberly (Amber Tamblyn) and Christine (Jess Salgueiro) are going to start creating an almost-religion centered around Yorick (Ben Schnetzer), that Nora’s (Marin Ireland) new leadership of the Daughters of the Amazon will see Yorick as a threat, and that 355 (Ashley Romans) and Allison’s (Diana Bang) intimate night could lead to more, which might be confusing for Yorick. “We’ve talked in the writers’ room about how the first stage of the apocalypse is grief and scrambling. The second stage is sex,” Clark told Vulture. “I think there’s a way in which the second season would be expansive and queer and exciting. Now we’ve shed our old identities and are starting to actually make our lives in the present instead of being so attached to the past.”
As for if or when Clark might get a chance to continue that story, apparently talks with other streamers and networks, have just begun. The first season of Y: The Last Man is currently on FX on Hulu and you can read our interview with series star Ashley Romans at this link.