Seth Rogen and his production partner Evan Goldberg are getting into the TV business. Preacher, based on the DC Comics/Vertigo series, is the first show developed by the duo and has been picked for a series order by AMC. Rogen, who directed the pilot with Goldberg, made the announcement on Twitter.
Preacher is coming to AMC! @evandgoldberg @SamCatlin123! The beginning is nigh!!! pic.twitter.com/xVgqYrkEK9
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) September 9, 2015
So is this worth getting excited over? What’s this series all about anyway, other than being based on a comic book series that doesn’t involve superheroes? (Hey, neither does The Walking Dead, and that worked out pretty well for AMC.)
Preacher, created by writer Garth Ennis and illustrator Steve Dillon, was published from 1995 to 2000, running for 75 issues. The story followed Jesse Custer, a minister having a crisis of faith who suddenly finds himself merged with something called “Genesis,” the unholy spawn of an angel and demon. This gives him the power of “The Word,” which Custer can use to make anyone do exactly what he says.
How Custer sometimes chooses to use “The Word” leads to some decidedly R-rated outcomes. At one point during the series, he tells some poor sap to “go fuck himself.” And that’s exactly what the guy tries to do, which doesn’t quite agree with human physiology. You can see how such material might appeal to Rogen and Goldberg, but it does call into question how much the show can get away with on AMC, as opposed to a premium cable network like HBO, Showtime or Starz.
The driving narrative of the series is Custer deciding to use his power to find God — not in a spiritual sense, but a literal one. And once he finds God, the plan is to confront him and make him answer for what he’s let happen to the world. You could argue that such an objective applies to the current state of the world more than ever.
In addition to Custer, the cast of characters includes his girlfriend Tulip, who was once a professional assassin, and Cassidy, an Irish alcoholic vampire who shares an admiration for comedian Bill Hicks. There’s also Arseface, a kid who severely disfigures his face after trying to kill himself like Kurt Cobain did.
Other characters Custer encounters during the series are Herr Starr, who pursues Custer on behalf of The Grail — an organization trying to keep the bloodline of Christ alive — only to become a Wile E. Coyote type of figure that always loses, often in terrible ways. The Saint of Killers is an old cowboy who’s basically a hitman for God. Add the ghost of John Wayne and the inbred descendant of Jesus Christ (those are two separate characters), and you have one hell of a series.
Come on, you’re not at least a little bit intrigued by this? That is, if you didn’t read the original comic books. Those who did already know how dark and delightfully twisted the world created by Ennis and Custer is, still remembering it fondly 15 years after the series ended.
Of course, we don’t yet know how much from the comic books will be adapted to TV. Some of the references like Hicks and Cobain are kind of dated, and may end up combed out of the narrative. Not all of these characters may make it either, based on the casting that’s been announced so far. And that wouldn’t be a complete surprise. On a TV budget, a few of these storylines, supernatural elements and the more outlandish people that come with them might not be possible.
In the meantime, Dominic Cooper (Agent Carter) has been cast as Custer. (Some fans are a bit worried about that, since Custer is a Texan through and through, while Cooper is British.) Ruth Negga (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will play Tulip, with Joseph Gilgun (Lockout) as Cassidy and Ian Colletti (Rake) as Arseface. Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) will play a character created originally for the show, and Elizabeth Perkins (Weeds) is also part of the cast.
Sam Catlin, who was a supervising producer on Breaking Bad, will be an executive producer and showrunner for Preacher. Though an exact airdate was not announced, Variety‘s Whitney Friedlander reports that the first season of 10 episodes will premiere on AMC in May 2016.
[Variety]
