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A big screen adaptation of this popular graphic novel has been "in the works" since 2008 when I first wrote about it on my old blog, although little progress has been made since then, so it's anyone's guess whether it'll eventually happen.

Last we wrote about it, about 6 months ago, it was announced that New Line Cinema had made the project one of its "first priorities."

Further, New Line was said to be "very pleased" with a draft of the script from Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (both former Jericho writers), and the hunt had begun for a director, with meetings with potential candidates on the then horizon.

It now looks like that search is over, as a director has been hired for the project. New Line has reportedly hired Dan Trachtenberg, primarily a director of commercials, to helm the post-apocalyptic movie. Trachtenberg, who apparently has geek-cred, previously made a short film based on the video game Portal which went viral, generating aroun 11 million hits on YouTube alone.

Recapping… In the comic book series, Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, and his monkey, Ampersand, suddenly become the last two men on earth after something mysterious wipes out every mammal on the planet possessing a Y chromosome – including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm. Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men.

Yorick goes on a mission to find his girlfriend Beth, who is supposed to be on vacation in Australia, and we go along with him on that expedition, accompanied by his body guard, Agent 355.

So why do we care about this project herenon S&A? Well, it's with Agent 355 that our interests primarily lie with the project.

Way back in 2008 when I first heard and wrote about the project, Alicia Keys was the producer's choice to play Agent 355 – an employee of a secretive US government agency.

Alicia Keys was his first choice, but he also mentioned Zoe Saldana, adding that "by then [the time the film would be made] Star Trek will be out and she'll be huge." Star Trek is out, but no Y: The Last Man.

Agent 355 is pretty much a bad-ass! She kicks butt, and confidently handles a variety of weapons – after all, she works for a secretive government agency.

And while neither actress is attached to the project (as far as I know), if they were the producers two top choices, I'd pick Zoe over Alicia. At least I've seen Zoe as an action hero, which is all I have to go on.

The closest Keys has come to a character like Agent 355 was as Georgia Sykes in Smokin' Aces, a film I didn't care for, although I don't recall her performance much.

And by the way, the star of the graphic novel, Yorick, is naturally a white dude, who, at the time, was to be played by the then young "it" guy, Shia Labeouf, whose name seemed to show up attached to every new project during that year.

No word on what actors are being considered by New Line today.

But maybe the studio will find one contender for Agent 355 when they take a look at filmmaker Christian Cardona's fan-made short film adaptation of the graphic novel (first posted on the site last summer), which stars Kent King as Agent 355.

Kent King's resume comprises of mostly TV work, appearing in soaps like General Hospital, and guest starring roles in sitcoms like The Steve Harvey Show and The Jamie Foxx Show.

Watch (King first appears around the 9:15 mark):

Kent King

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