That 'Y: The Last Man' Movie is Officially Dead Again

If a film based on Brian K. Vaughn's comic book epic Y: The Last Man is ever going to happen, it won't be any time soon. The project is officially dead once again after the rights reverted back to Vaughn and artist Pia Guerra, or so says Dan Trachtenberg who was hired to direct the film last year. He responded to a fan's tweet with this...

Not happening. But it's in trusted hands (the creators). RT @AndyWagnerActor: Any updates on your Y:TLM screen adaptation? #bigfan
— Dan Trachtenberg (@DannyTRS) September 25, 2014

This isn't much of a surprise as Vaughn said earlier this year he could be getting the rights back, and Trachtenberg revealed to Slashfilm that it actually happened some months ago. The film would have been based on the first two major storylines centering on Yorick Brown, who along with pet monkey Ampersand navigate a world where the male population has been completely wiped out. A film version of the series has been in the works for a very long time and this isn't even the first time the project has been shelved. D.J. Caruso had been planning his own adaptation that never got off the ground.

So does this mean Vaughn will try again with somebody else? Or perhaps tackle the project himself? Trachtenberg is doubtful...

Trachtenberg: "I’m not sure Brian will ever want to do anything more with it and I’m not sure that he needs to."

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Dan Trachtenberg to direct 'Y: The Last Man'

It's been one long, epic journey to the big screen for Brian K. Vaughn's classic comic book series, Y: The Last Man. It's been on the table for years, with DJ Caruso(Disturbia) long attached to direct, but for one reason or another nothing ever really came about. Last fall we learned that New Line had finally put the adaptation on the top of their priority list, and now we're learning they've settled on a director to move it forward.

Deadline reports that short film and commercials director Dan Trachtenberg has been brought on to the project, having made a name for himself with a fan film based on the Portal video game. He's taking on one of the most ambitious and cherished comics of all time, so it's kind of surprising to see it go to someone of so little feature film experience. A 5-Time Eisner Award winner, Y: The Last Man follows Yorick Brown, who along with his male Capuchin monkey named Ampersand, survive a plague that kills every mammal with a Y chromosome. The 60-issue series follows his adventures as the literal last man on earth, accompanied by the mysterious Agent 355 and geneticist Dr. Mann.

The script comes from  Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, who adapted the Vertigo comic Human Target for the small screen. So now that's part done. Who do we think should play Yorick?

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Writers board Brian K. Vaughn's 'Y: The Last Man'

From 2002-2008 there was no better comic book anywhere than Brian K. Vaughn's Y: The Last Man. I think you could arguably call it one of the greatest comics of the modern age, a thoughtful, socially aware epic following Yorick Brown, the literal last man on earth left to fend for himself in a world full of women. The series dealt pretty extensively with gender identification issues, but also had tons of action and deep sci-fi elements. After a plague hits the planet, Yorick and his pet monkey are the only males to survive. A film adaptation has been on the table for years, and as Vaughn became more popular outside the comics world as a writer on Lost, it seemed more likely to happen. D.J. Caruso(Disturbia) was attached to direct at one point, with Louis Leterrier also expressing some interest. Shia Labeouf had been mentioned as a possibility to star, but turned it down because the role was too similar to what he'd been doing in Transformers. That still boggles my mind he thought something that ignorant. Yet nothing has happened, and the film has been on hold ever since.

New Line appears to finally be ready to get the ball rolling again, as THR reports that relatively new writers,  Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, are in final talks to pen the script. The writers have some experience adapting comics before as writers of the Fox series, Human Target. Carl Ellsworth had written one draft of the script back when Caruso was on board, but now they'll be starting from scratch.

A feature film is the worst possible way to do this, with multiple story arcs spread out over the course of just a few years, each with their own unique insights. Maybe the execs at New Line will smarten up and see that Y: The Last Man would be better served on the small screen, ala The Walking Dead.

Now....who do we want to play Yorick? What about Agent 355?

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