Y: The Last Man is not happening. Again.

Although Y: The Last Man might seem like an ideal comic to movie story visually, it has proved incredibly difficult so far and not it seems it is dead altogether.

Almost-director Dan Trachtenberg has Tweeted: “Not happening. But it’s in trusted hands (the creators).”

So, Slashfilm talked to Trachtenberg about the adaptation and he was pretty forthcoming: “I had such a great time working on that project and am truly sad the things we were cooking up can no longer happen.

“Like everyone else who’s a fan of the series I had always wished it either remain in its comic book form. Or, if it must be made, a TV series would be the only thing that would suffice.

“However, the “big screen” and the “small screen” has changed drastically since Y came out and I think so much of the great TV in our current “golden age” has been directly or indirectly inspired by Y the Last Man. I started getting excited about bringing to the BIG screen what we’ve been getting in TV so readily now— great characters, RELATIONSHIPS, world building and genre re-combination. 

“Truly- I was excited to make an ADVENTURE movie, with swashbuckle, that was fun and funny but had something to say. Which is something that is distinctly BKV. Having real, true, honest ,people stuff amidst the big, fun, action stuff. We were in many ways quite faithful to the comic, though some characters were combined and some events re-arranged and some brief moments of action we dug into to create bigger action/adventure sequences.

“The script was essentially the first two trades. Taking inspiration from the original Star Wars (Episode VI)- we wanted to tell a complete story… but not the whole story. Hoping that, in success, we could get tell the rest of our serialized adventure.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark was referenced a lot. Midnight Run and Big Trouble in Little China were referenced a lot. Willow and Ladyhawke I may have referenced a little too often…

“In the end, working with all the producers and the writers was a great experience. And getting to meet Brian, who has been such an inspiration to me over the years was incredible. He’s as great a person as he is a writer. And now Y the Last Man is back where it should be, with its creator.

“I’m not sure Brian will ever want to do anything more with it and I’m not sure that he needs to. His latest comics SAGA and THE PRIVATE EYE are great and we should be reading them. His “never-been-made” screenplays are some of my favorite reads ever (Roundtable, specifically). I hope we can convince him to write us some more awesome original movies and TV— but I think comics is where his heart lies.”

While it’s difficult to see just how it would have translated to film and, yes, it is probably better as a comic, it’s hard not to be excited, given all the exciting references and heart that seemed to be going in to it. Still… perhaps a TV series lies ahead…