Much loved graphic novel Y: The Last Man has had plenty of ups and downs on the way to the big screen — and now, accordingly to Vulture, it's currently on a pretty big 'up'.

Though they don't have any direct quotes, their sources at New Line say that the adaptation is one of its first priorities at the moment, following on from the news back in March that Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s beloved comic series was getting a new script from Warehouse 13's Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia.

In case you forgot, the story focuses on Yorick, an amateur escape artist who has become the lone male human survivor after a mysterious plague killed off everyone else with a Y chromosome — including all male animals. Except, that is, for his pet capuchin monkey, Ampersand, who follows him around like Ross's Marsel, but in a much friendlier, less irritating way.

Now living in a world entirely filled with women, Yorick heads out on a mission to discover why the tragedy befell the world and to look for his girlfriend Beth, who he last heard was halfway across the world in Australia. 

Y has been wandering the halls of development hell for a few years now. The rights were nabbed back in 2007, with Disturbia director DJ Caruso and writer Carl Ellsworth teaming up to adapt it with Shia LaBeouf loosely attached to star. But the sprawling story proved tough to squeeze into script form and even after touting that they wanted to make a trilogy, the trio eventually tossed in the towel.

This indication that Y: The Last Man may be back on track is very exciting for all die hard graphic novel afficionados, and has prompted half of Team Empire to reread our 30 Comic Books You Should Have Read feature and/or conjecture who might be worthy to fill Yorick's shoes...