Why Did Y: The Last Man Fail?

After six years of development, this long awaited show has been cancelled after just one season.

The production problems that the show faced are unlike anything — it was as if the whole thing was cursed before it even began. Based on a comic book series, the show’s life at FX actually began in 2015 when they secured the rights. They picked it up to pilot in 2018 and cast the show, eventually ordering it to series in 2019. However, the showrunners were changed due to creative differences, and by early 2020 the main character was being recast. Then the pandemic came along further delaying the project, meaning the production did not start until late 2020.

I personally don’t think that production issues were the show’s only problems. This show was just really poorly written. During the years that they were trying to get it made, it could’ve done with several rewrites. The way it incorporated characters and plotlines into the story was done so badly that it feels mismatched and barely stitched together. The series randomly shows us characters and things that they did, such as Hero (Olivia Thirlby) in an ambulance killing a man at the beginning, or her telling Sam (Elliot Fletcher) she loved him and him leaving the group just for her to continue as if nothing happened. This randomness doesn’t really allow us to connect with the story and believe it, and so the show, or really this part of the show, fails to capture the audience.

This also leads to problems with pacing. The split plots don’t allow the main plot with the trio to really move forward. By the end of the last episode, the audience are left with a “is that it?” kind of feeling; as if nothing really happened. The stories are interconnected, which does help, but it is not pulled off well enough to really take the audience anywhere at all.

Where the show’s strength lies, and what it really could’ve done with focussing on before incorporating the other plotlines, is the trio of Yorick (Ben Schnetzer), Agent 355 (Ashley Romans) and Dr. Allison Mann (Diana Bang). Safe to say that Ashley Romans as Agent 355 was the star of the show, and was what kept most of us tuning in every week. The only reason I’m sad to see the show go is because of her, the main trio and the possible budding relationship between 355 and Allison. I will be keeping an eye out for any future projects she is a part of for sure, and I recommend you all do too. She is truly a magnetic star that outshines the role she was given here. I am literally begging to see more of her.

As for its future, the show has been cancelled at FX (it’s on Disney+ in the UK), but since they are the ones who made the show as well, I’m not sure if the chances of a another network picking it up are any good. Interestingly enough, the show was not cancelled due to low viewing figures or its reception, but for budgetary reasons, as the network would’ve had to pay a huge sum to extend the actors’ contracts.

Realistically, they had already spent too much money on the show, and the fact that it actually got made and wasn’t abandoned is actually something in itself. The showrunner and writers should’ve seen that fact and adapted the show to make it one and done, knowing that it wasn’t likely that the network were going to spend more money on it.

The main thing I’ve noticed about public reception to the show is that there is quite a huge split. It seems like most people either really hate or love it. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Ashley Romans is absolutely fantastic, which further emphasises that she is the real takeaway from this show.