The upcoming FX series “Y” now finds itself without its title character.
According to Collider, actor Barry Keoghan, who was cast as Yorick Brown (aka Y), has departed the series that was set to premiere on FX later this year. The series is based on a comic book by creators Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, and it tells the story of Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand as they attempt to survive as the last two males on Earth, after a mysterious illness killed every other male suddenly and without warning.
Sadly, Keoghan was to lead a great cast that includes Diane Lane, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield, Marin Ireland, and Amber Tamblyn. It appears that the rest of the cast is still involved, at this time.
One thing that isn’t known is the release date of the series. Originally slated to arrive on FX later this year, it’s unclear whether the departure of Keoghan will affect the production start date and the eventual release date. As mentioned, the star’s departure isn’t the first setback that “Y” has experienced in its long, long, long history of development.
Originally, the series has its roots as a feature film that was developed in the studio system for almost a decade. However, the rights eventually landed at FX as a series, and everything seemed to be on track. The casting was finished and a pilot episode was filmed. However, FX apparently wasn’t completely happy with the direction of the series and replaced the original showrunners, Aïda Mashaka Croal and Michael Green, with Eliza Clark.
While that seemed like it could lead to the eventual news that the series was shelved indefinitely, the network and those involved made it clear that “Y” was still in active development and would be hitting TV screens soon enough. Now, we’ll just have to wait and see if the series can survive this latest, and perhaps biggest, setback.
