Type keyword(s) to search

TV TATTLE

How Y: The Last Man will handle trans characters: The show will affirm that "trans women are women, trans men are men"

  • FX chief John Landgraf and showrunner Eliza Clark say the graphic novel's binary presentation of gender has been updated significantly for the new series. As a result, Y: The Last Man will feature characters and story elements added specifically to include a fuller gender spectrum. “A lot has changed since the graphic novel,” said Landgraf at the TV press tour. “One of the things the show will make clear is that there are women with two X chromosomes and men with an X and Y chromosome — but there are also women with two Y chromosomes and men with two X chromosomes. So what happened was all the mammals with a Y chromosome — with the exception of this one man and this one monkey — died in one event. But there are numerous men in the show that had two X chromosomes, and they’re important characters. It’s also made clear that a number of women died that day who had a Y chromosome and probably didn’t even know it.” Clark added: “What was exciting about the book was it takes this kind of idea that a world filled with mostly women … is not necessarily a paradise. Because women uphold systems of oppression — like patriarchy and white supremacy and capitalism. And that can be explored within that. Because gender is diverse and chromosomes are not equal to gender. So in our world of the show, every living mammal with a Y chromosome dies. Tragically, that includes many women. It includes nonbinary people and includes intersex people. But that’s also true of the survivors. I think every single person who is working on the show — from the writers to the directors to the cast and the crew — are making a show that affirms that trans women are women, trans men are men, nonbinary people are nonbinary, and that is part of the sort of richness of the world we get to play with.”

    TOPICS: Y: The Last Man, FX, Eliza Clark, John Landgraf, LGBTQ