Stephen King Can’t Believe They Cancelled One Of The Most Interesting Shows On TV
Stephen King has been making use of his Twitter account lately, this time coming to the defense of a recently-canceled show.
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Y: The Last Man was a very special show to air this fall, taking six years to be produced after starting all the way back in 2015. After several delays, it premiered on September 13 on FX on Hulu. But alas, FX decided to cancel it after just one season, and fans are so pissed off about the decision that they are calling for a second season to be made. One of those fans might be able to make a difference. That’s critically-acclaimed sci-fi and horror author Stephen King, who can’t believe that the network would drop the ax on the show.
Stephen King took to Twitter on Tuesday to tell FX to renew the Hulu adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s popular comic book series for another season, as he doesn’t believe the network was serious about canceling the show. “Is Y: The Last Man really canceled? Please say not,” he wrote. While he acknowledged that the show wasn’t all that perfect, he deemed it “one of the most interesting shows on TV. C’mon, Hulu…or somebody. Please don’t leave me hanging.”
Can Stephen King make a difference here? He’s a big enough name to at least have folks listen. As the title suggests, Y: The Last Man takes place in a post-apocalyptic world (something Stephen King can get behind) where every mammal with a Y chromosome dies after a mysterious event save for one cisgender man named Yorick (played by Ben Schnetzer) and his pet capuchin monkey, Ampersand. In that sense, two male mammals survived. Even so, Yorick travels the new world to search for answers for why the cataclysmic event occurred. This is all while survivors struggle with their losses and attempt to restore society with the help of Yorick’s mother, Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane), who is the new President of the United States.
According to GamesRadar, showrunner Eliza Clark pitched a second installment for Y: The Last Man in September, but FX decided to cancel the show rather than pay $3 million to the actors for the extension before the first season came to a close. “We have learned that we will not be moving forward with FX on Hulu for Season 2 of Y: The Last Man,” she said in a statement. “I have never been more committed to a story, and there is so much more left to tell.”
And it’s easy to see why Stephen King would get behind this kind of production. Eliza Clark added that Y: The Last Man is a show about gender and how oppressive systems inform gender identity, especially the patriarchy, and that the project has a gender diverse team of artists led by women in every aspect of production, from producers and directors to costume designers and cinematography. She said that FX was a great partner in bringing the show to life, but she vowed to find another home, with HBO Max being a potential contender. FX Productions has been reportedly supportive of the movement, but they have not taken any action to prove it.
In addition to writing horror books like It and Billy Summers, which was published in August, Stephen King also seems to spend his spare time as an amateur film critic. Last week, he praised Dune and even Last Night in Soho, telling his Twitter followers he got an advanced preview of the film and planned to re-watch it on its opening night. He said he hardly ever re-watches any movies but gave Last Night in Soho an exception but it explores time travel with a twist. Plus, director Edgar Wright said that the movie was inspired by King’s work.
