Y: The Last Man showrunner Eliza Clark says that writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra, the creators of the acclaimed Vertigo Comics series on which the television show is based, were very supportive of the tweaks and changes being made to the source material.

Published under DC Comics' now-defunct mature readers imprint from 2002 to 2008, Vaughan and Guerra's Y: The Last Man centers on a mysterious plague that kills every mammal on Earth with a Y chromosome, save for a man named Yorick Brown and his pet monkey, Ampersand. The TV adaptation follows this same premise, though places a much greater emphasis on the plague's impact on transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, a change Clark has spoken about at length in the past.

RELATED: Y: The Last Man's CGI Monkey Is So Real, It Fooled Hollywood's Animal Care Reps

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Clark further discussed the balancing act that goes into staying faithful to the original comic while also making necessary updates for the screen. "I mean, I love the book, and I think so much of what makes the book special is true of the show, too. So, I feel like the show and the book are rooted in character and relationships. There's a big idea, but it's really about the people at the center of it," Clark said.

"I think the opportunity to turn it into a series is to be able to use the world and the ideas and the characters that Brian [K. Vaughan] and Pia [Guerra] put out there and then just get to spend more time with them, or get deeper into them, or learn more about why they ended up where they were," she continued. "I think one of the biggest things that was important to me that was also important to Brian and Pia in the adaptation was updating the material to include the gender diversity of the world we live in and making it clear early and often that Yorick is not the last man, that plenty of men survived, and the thing that makes him special is his Y chromosome and not his maleness."

RELATED: Y: The Last Man Boss Compares the Pilot's Tension to Jaws' Sense of Dread

Clark elaborated, "Because everyone with a Y chromosome dies, that doesn't mean that -- you know, there were a lot of women who died and a lot of non-binary people and a lot of intersex folks. That also means that non-binary people and intersex folks survived, and they are part of this story. So, that was a really important thing for me and was definitely something that Brian and Pia were excited about. So that was, I think, the main thing."

When asked what it was like to work with Vaughan and Guerra on the adaptation, Clark said, "I mean, I'm just a huge fan of them both. So I had to get over that a little bit. The first time I met with Brian, I'm like, 'Can we talk about Pride of Baghdad?' They were very generous and saying like, 'This is yours now. Please do what you want to do with it,' which was fun for me.

RELATED: First Y: The Last Man Trailer Leans Hard Into the Series' Horrific Premise

"I think Brian probably felt safe knowing that I was a big fan and didn't want to take an idea and then just go in a completely different direction," she continued. "I really respect and love the books. I think the people who love the books will hopefully love the show. I think that the show honors honors the books. Brian and Pia, they read stuff, they watched stuff. They were super complimentary. They didn't want to meddle; they wanted to cheer on, and I really appreciate them for that."

Y: The Last Man premieres Sept. 13 on FX on Hulu.

KEEP READING: Y: The Last Man Uses a CGI Monkey to Protect the Show's Titular Star