The cast and crew behind FX's fast-approaching adaptation of Y: The Last Man recently opened up regarding how the series addresses gender identity and diversity, as well as how it challenges the gender binary.
Y: The Last Man is slated to premiere next month under the FX on Hulu banner. The show is based on the DC/Vertigo Comics series of the same name created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra. The comic takes places in the aftermath of a devastating plague that kills every mammal on Earth with a Y chromosome, with the sole survivors being a man named Yorick Brown and his monkey companion, Ampersand.
"Yorick's maleness is not what sets him apart in this world -- it's his Y chromosome that sets him apart," Y: The Last Man showrunner Eliza Clark explained during the show's Television Critics Association press tour panel. "Gender is diverse and chromosomes are not equal to gender. And so, in our world -- in the world of the television show -- every living mammal with a Y chromosome dies. Tragically, that includes many women; it includes non-binary people; it includes intersex people." Clark assures that Y's creators "are making a show that affirms that trans women are women, trans men are men, non-binary people are non-binary, and that is part of the richness of of the world we get to play with."
FX chairman John Landgraf chimed in as well, adding, "There are women with two X chromosomes, men with an X and a Y chromosome... women with two Y chromosomes and there are men with two X chromosomes. So... there are numerous men in the show who have two X chromosomes; they're important characters."
One male character who survives Y: The Last Man's apocalyptic event is Sam Jordan, a character who did not appear in the comic and is an original creation of the show. Sam is played by actor Elliot Fletcher, a trans man. "In this world post the event, gender is somewhat irrelevant," said Fletcher. "I think one of the hilarious things about this show is that post the event, Yorick can walk around without a mask on because he's assumed to be trans, rather than pre-the event people are assumed to be cisgender. And so, I just think it flips the traditional idea of gender completely on its head, and so I was very comfortable joining a project that knew that ahead of time and committed to it fully."
Executive producer Nina Jacobson closed out the discussion by explaining that the team behind Y was excited to "blow up the binary."
Y: The Last Man premieres Monday, Sept. 13 on FX on Hulu.
Source: Variety