Watch The Opening Scene Of Y: The Last Man
A live action TV series adaptation of author Brian K. Vaughan's acclaimed comic book series "Y: The Last Man" has been a long time coming. FX first announced the series in 2015, but a reshuffling of talent both in front of and behind the camera, in addition to inevitable production delays in response to the ongoing pandemic, meant that the premiere of "Y: The Last Man" was pushed back considerably.
August 5 marked the release of the first full trailer for the series, granting fans of the original comics, in addition to those excited for the show without any prior knowledge of its source material, their first extended look at the series in action.
"Y: The Last Man" finally premiered on September 13 through streaming platform FX on Hulu. Three episodes in total debuted on its release date, though moving forward, the show will adhere to a weekly release schedule (via IMDb). For those without a Hulu subscription, or even fans planning on watching the series who simply want a taste of what's to come, the opening scene of "Y: The Last Man" is currently available on FX Networks' YouTube channel free of charge.
A man and his monkey
"Y: The Last Man" opens on various scenes in the aftermath of the death of almost all living things possessing a Y chromosome — in short, virtually every human and animal assigned male at birth. Onscreen text reveals that the series takes place three weeks after that event, so while societal collapse is still relatively new, enough time has elapsed that the remaining, largely female society has built memorials to some of the deceased.
Then, in New York City, a monkey that those with existing knowledge of the series will recognize as Ampersand, enters a yellow taxi, the driver of which appears to be one of the victims of the apocalypse. Ampersand returns to Yorick (Ben Schnetzer), the titular last man, who is in the process of spray painting the words, "Beth I'm alive come home -Y" in red on the side of a building. Yorick receives a pen from Ampersand demonstrates a sleight-of-hand magic trick for his monkey companion.
As Yorick starts to search a taxi cab himself, a crashed helicopter teeters on top of a building, about to fall onto an oblivious Ampersand. Yorick risks his life without second thought to get his monkey out of harm's way.
As the camera zooms out, revealing a New York City intersection in the shape of a Y, the scene concludes. The first three episodes of "Y: The Last Man" are available now through FX on Hulu.