For years, I have been waiting to see if they were ever going to find a way to get the Garth Ennis comic book series Preacher to either the big screen or television. Honestly, I felt (and sort of still do feel) that the only way to do it properly is to bring it to HBO or Showtime. However, it looks like it is going to be arriving after all this time, but it is AMC that has ordered the pilot for a Preacher TV series.
While I love the fact that AMC (or more accurately Sony Television) wants to take a chance on this amazingly great series, even on cable TV, I see it being a major problem. Sure, The Walking Dead has shown that AMC will bring an almost R-rated feel to their shows in the violence, gore and disturbing situations, Preacher is something that could AMC in hot water – especially in the important Bible Belt states, which can get very loud, very fast.
See, Preacher is about a minister from San Antonio who suddenly ends up with a vessel launched into his body that just so happens to be the being born when an angel and demon mated. Both were exiled and the infant was captured and imprisoned by those protecting God. However, when the being escapes, and ends up in Jesse, God runs and goes into hiding.
Jesse, the preacher of the title, then joins up with his former girlfriend and hit-person Tulip and a 100-year old Irish alcoholic vampire named Cassidy to search out God and make him stand trial for abandoning his creation and his children. Thanks to the essence inside him, Jesse also has the power of the “Word of God,” which means anyone he speaks to in that voice has to do what he says. He is also hunted down by the Saint of Killers, one of the greatest characters in all of comics.
Yes, the comics are violent and crass, but the religious aspects will make it hard to survive on cable television.
Many people have tried to adapt it, including Kevin Smith, DJ Caruso and Sam Mendes, but it continued to get shot down. Now, with Sony Television behind it and AMC wanting a pilot, this could but the chance for it to get made. In some scary news, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen have worked on the script for the pilot, but surprisingly, Garth Ennis is happy with it and said that the two captured the tone of his comics.
I’ll believe that this will exist when AMC schedules it, but we will have more information about The Preacher TV series as it comes available.
Source: Bleeding Cool