AMC's PREACHER will not be a direct adaptation of the comic

There’s no subtle way to put it: “Preacher” is f#$ked up! The long-running comic book from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon is critically-acclaimed for a reason as it tells this incredible tale of religion, morality and fate. But it also has people engaging in sex acts with figures made out of raw cow meat. And that’s just tip of this truly messed up and often highly controversial iceberg – and we haven’t even got to the “retarded” inbred descendant of Jesus.

Because of all this craziness, I never expected we would ever see screen adaptation of the series, but that’s exactly what we’re getting from Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin who have developed a TV series adaptation of Preacher for AMC. With The Walking Dead and the like, AMC certainly aren’t the type of network that shies away from more mature content, but Preacher is on a whole other level. But it appears that it’s a level that we probably won’t see though.

Speaking during the Television Critics Association Press Tour (via Variety), Rogen and co revealed that their version of Preacher is going to tone things down a bit so as to be more inclusive.

“We’re fans of the comic. We love the comic. And we’re going to make a show that we like, so we hope that translates to people that love the comics, as well. But first and foremost, our goal is to make a great television show.”

“We want fans who love the comic to get everything they want, but also get some new twists and turns.”

“Garth [Ennis] very much encouraged us to make a lot of small changes.”

“I don’t know if you could translate the comics directly to television — everyone involved thought we should not do that directly, including Garth — but we love the comic. There’s tons of stuff from the comic that we hope to include.”

“For people who know the comics, there are all sorts of Easter eggs… that don’t obviously confuse people that are just coming to the show for the first time.”

So yeah, you probably shouldn’t go into this expecting any bestiality (meatsiality?). And honestly, I suspected as much ever since the first trailer for the show got unveiled and showed absolutely nothing of its twisted, supernatural story. That story being about Jessie Custer, a smalltown Texas preacher who get’s possessed by Genesis, a mysterious supernatural entity that imbues him with the voice of God – people have to do anything he says. Custer, along with his hitwoman ex-girlfriend Tulip and a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy, go on an epic, completely messed up road trip in an effort to literally find God and hold him accountable for the state of his creation, encountering just about every degenerate thing you can think of along the way.

In the show, Custer is played by Dominic Cooper (Agent Carter, Need For Speed) who had previously never really read much of the comic. But he spoke about the role, saying that he knows what a big deal it is.

“It is an absolute honor to play him, but such a responsibility for the fan base who has decided who this guy is. So I was very nervous and I’m still finding my way, so that’s what will be exciting about this journey.”

As a long-time regular on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Ruth Negga had a bit more comic book experience and was thus familiar with the Preacher comic. Even so, the script for the adaptation was still an eye-opener.

“I was kind of familiar with the comics, but when I first read the script, I was kind of blown away. I was knocked off the course. I had never read anything like it.”

Lets just hope that also holds true for us fans of the comic book.

 

Last Updated: January 11, 2016