Just like in the acclaimed Y: The Last Man comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr., the upcoming Y: The Last Man TV series involves the adventures of the two last males to survive a shocking apocalyptic event that otherwise leaves only females remaining on the planet, but Yorick Brown's monkey companion, Ampersand, will not be played by an actual monkey in the series.
The pilot for the new series featured an actual monkey, and the usage quickly drew the ire of, who wrote in a statement at the time, "We were shocked to see that a real monkey was used in Y. As PETA warned FX as well as Y's producer and various showrunners, using monkeys as television props thwarts conservation efforts and promotes exotic-pet ownership, which involves removing baby monkeys from their mothers shortly after birth and raising them in deprived conditions. In an age when Aladdin and Dumbo have brought monkeys to life with realistic, humane computer-generated imagery, there's no excuse for dragging a live monkey onto the set of Y." However, the decision appears to be based more on the dangers using a real monkey posed Ben Schnetzer, the actor who plays Yorick in the series.
Showrunner Eliza Clark first noted her initial aversion to using a CGI monkey, “The show has a very naturalistic, cinematic style. You’re really close to people’s faces, and you’re seeing their skin, you’re seeing the roots of their hair, you’re seeing sweat dripping down their faces. So if suddenly there’s a cartoon monkey, like, no thank you!"
However, she was impressed by what the computer graphics department came up with, "But we have an amazing visual-effects supervisor, and the people who made the monkey at ILM are amazing. I think the monkey looks incredible, and so real."
Clark then explained that one of the key motivations for having a CGI monkey was to protect Schnetzer, "[I]t means that Ben doesn’t have to do scenes with an animal where he can’t show his teeth, because that could get him in trouble. I think the CG solves a lot. The monkey is expensive, and I care deeply about him as a character, and making him look good. So it’s one of the challenges of the show, but I think it’s gonna work out.”
PETA, of course, applauded the decision, as well, "The decision to switch to computer-generated imagery is the only ethical option for depicting animals on screen and is welcome news for primates who suffer in the entertainment industry."
Source: Polygon