FX — the network behind the Emmy-winning series Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a society where women are forced into a sex slavery caste system — has released a trailer for its latest drama airing on Hulu, Y: The Last Man, which, according to actress Amber Tamblyn, imagines “a world without cisgender men.”
The abortion activist and cast member on the series, celebrated the FX project, tweeting “Hold onto your husbands — We’re about to bring you into a world, unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. A world without cisgender men.”
The series, based on the Vertigo comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, shows the world in the aftermath of a pandemic that killed every man on earth but one: Yorick Brown (Ben Schnetzer). The series finds womankind struggling to keep society running — the power grid, manufacturing, and food production. We watch them struggle to maintain with no men. As society breaks down, the women begin choosing sides with violent factions that struggle for power and when word gets out that there is one man left, the stakes are raised to another level.
An all-female team of directors has helmed the ten-episode season, including Louise Friedberg (The Right Stuff), Destiny Ekaragha (Silent Witness), and Daisy von Scherler Mayer (The Walking Dead). Most of the heads of departments — camera, production design, casting, editing, etc. — are also women. The series also stars Diane Lane, Ashley Romans, and Olivia Thirlby.
But already some leftists are raising alarms that transgender people are not included in the subject matter. For one, Jezebel blogger Harron Walker wants to know if the series intends to kill off men who claim to be transgender women, too.
The series took a tortured path to the screen. The comic book series was optioned for a film adaptation before it ended in 2008 but struggled to come to fruition as a movie. Then it was shifted to life as an FX TV series, but that ultimately collapsed as well. However, it will finally see daylight as it debuts on Hulu on September 13.
Watch below:
Hulu, which Disney owns a majority stake, has pushed out a steady stream feminist fare in recent years. The dramatic comedy Shrill, starring Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryan, who plays an “overweight journalist,” teamed up with Planned Parenthood to depict a abortion scenes. It was canceled after just three seasons. The Hulu series Mrs. America faced backlash last year after Phyllis Schlafly Eagles posted a video exposing how the series airing on Hulu, Mrs. America, fabricated quotes from conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly during her battle over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the 70s.
Hulu will be the home of The Walt Disney Co.’s forthcoming brand of entertainment titles and a “1619 Project” docuseries, based on the factually inaccurate New York Times series of articles that sought to reframe the founding of American around slavery.
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