FX's unexpected decision to cancel Y: The Last Man reportedly had nothing to do with the show's actual viewership.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it all came down to contract extensions. Based on the acclaimed DC/Vertigo comic book series of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Pia Guerra, Y: The Last Man began moving forward after FX acquired the rights in 2015. However, the series hit a snag when original showrunners Aida Croal and Michael Green stepped down in April 2019. And while this led to multiple casting changes, actors like Diane Lane and Amber Tamblyn remained attached to the TV show, having initially signed on as far back as July 2018.
Y: The Last Man was making good progress in early 2020, having found a new showrunner in Eliza Clark and recast Ben Schnetzer as Yorick -- the series' lead and one of only two mammals (along with his pet monkey Ampersand) with a Y chromosome to survive a mysterious event in the future. Of course, the series suffered yet another delay when the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns went into effect in March 2020, which prevented shooting from getting underway until the following October. In between those two developments, Y: The Last Man also moved from the FX channel to FX on Hulu.
As a result of all this, FX had to make a decision about Y: The Last Man's future on Oct. 15, which was the date when the already-extended options for the show's long-attached cast members expired. In the end, despite the series coming in under its budget of $8.5 million per episode, FX elected against spending an additional $3 million to further extend those options and canceled the show ahead of its Season 1 finale premiering in November. Because Hulu, like most streaming services, doesn't announce ratings in the typical sense, it's believed that FX had little to no real viewership data to base its decision on.
THR's sources added that Y: The Last Man Season 2 may yet get picked up by HBO Max, seeing as WarnerMedia (which owns the streamer) also owns DC Comics and the original comics' Vertigo imprint with it. Clark confirmed that she intends to push for the show's continuation while announcing FX's decision on social media. "I have never in my life been more committed to a story, and there is so much more left to tell," she wrote.
The remaining episodes of Y: The Last Man Season 1 premiere Mondays on FX on Hulu.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter