Elijah Wood would like to star in the Y: The Last Man adaptation

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Throughout the past decade, many have tried to bring comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra's epic Y: THE LAST MAN series to screen. Back in 2009, New Line Cinema had plans to adapt the sci-fi story for the silver screen with DJ Caruso set to direct and Shia LaBeouf attached to star (Oh my God, no. Just no). When that plan fell through, and rights to the Vertigo-published series returned to both Vaughan and Guerra in 2014, New Line failed, once again, to get the project up and running. Then, in June of this year, Vaughan told CBR that he'd "recently read a phenomenal draft of the Y: The Last Man pilot by Michael Green for FX. Should have some very cool news about another adaptation soon.”

Fast-forward to this past weekend, when Elijah Wood (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY), who was in attendance at this year's New York City Comic-Con, stated that he'd very much like to star as Yorick, the upcoming television show's leading man. How this all came about is that while participating in a panel for the forthcoming second season of DIRK GENTLY, the no-stranger-to-epic-fantasy actor was asked what his dream comic book role would be. Wood replied without hesitation by saying, "Y: The Last Man. When is that going to get made? It’s such a great comic series. Amazing."

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Vaughan and Guerra's sprawling post-apocalyptic fantasy shares the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he's the last man on earth.

With American Gods showrunner Michael Green set to organize Y: THE LAST MAN for an upcoming series on FX, now's about the time when we can expect to be hearing more news on the progress being made to bring this wild tale of survival, sex and solitude to the small screen. Personally, I never would have pegged Elijah Wood for the role of Yorick. However, now that Wood has placed his hat in the ring, I'm warming to the idea rather quickly. While I admit that I would have placed someone perhaps a bit more "rogue-like" in the role, Yorick is by all accounts a quirky man forced into an unlikely and extreme scenario – which is kind of what Elijah Wood does best.

I don't think it will be long before we hear of more details concerning the television adaptation of Y: THE LAST MAN, and seeing as the series is one of my favorites of all time, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any new developments.

Meanwhile, you can catch Elijah Wood when he stars in DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY Season 2 which will premiere on Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 9pm ET on BBC America.