'Y: The Last Man' TV Series Recruits 'Warcraft' Star Ben Schnetzer To Replace Barry Keoghan

It's been a long road for FX's series adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra's award-winning sci-fi graphic novel Y: The Last Man. The project has been in the works for years, hitting speedbump after speedbump, and with production right around the corner in April, it looked like the series had a big problem with star Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk) departing the lead role. However, it looks like the production has recovered quickly by reeling in Warcraft star Ben Schnetzer to take over as the show's star.

Variety has word on Ben Schnetzer starring in the Y: The Last Man TV series as Yorick Brown, the last male left on a planet where an event simultaneously kills-off all living mammals with a Y chromosome – including embryos and sperm – creating a post-apocalyptic society run entirely by women.

Schnetzer's biggest role to date was in the fantasy blockbuster video game adaptation Warcraft, as well as films like Snowden, Pride and The Book Thief. But he's also appeared in TV shows such as The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair and Happy Town, as well as another FX drama pilot called Gone Hollywood. It's not quite as decorated a career as Barry Keoghan, but hopefully Schnetzer still brings a rich performance to the table.

It remains to be seen if this trouble path to production will be worth the wait. Let's not forget that along with the five-year development process for this series, there was once an attempt to turn Y: The Last Man into a film series with director D.J. Caruso and his Disturbia and Eagle Eye star Shia LaBeouf. So Hollywood has been wanting to bring this graphic novel to life for a long time. Plus, this is such a revered graphic novel that it has a lot to live up to with the fanbase.

Eliza Clark (Extant, Animal Kingdom) is now serving as showrunner, and the previously announced cast of Diane Lane, Amber Tamblyn and Imogen Poots is still on board, as is Timothy Hutton, who is playing the President of the United States, who probably won't be around the series much unless extensive flashbacks are employed.

It's not clear when Y: The Last Man is set to debut, but we'll keep you posted.