Garth Ennis’ Preacher is one of the greatest and most seminal stories to come out of the comic book medium, alternately powerful and taboo yet still married to a warped version of the Hero’s Journey. It’s long been one of those properties that has almost made it to the screen in one form or another several times before stalling. Now that AMC has taken the gamble with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Breaking Bad alum Sam Catlin in charge of the show, details are emerging in advance of its arrival on television in 2016.
The more risqué elements of the story will most certainly have to be toned down for AMC. But a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly led Rogen to shine a light on some of the tonal choices they made and how they’ll contrast with the comic book.
The overwhelming sentiment from Rogen is that the show is going to be “fun.” As fun as a show as violent, sacrilegious, and sexually ridiculous as its source material could be, one would suppose. As a creator Rogen, has shown a flair for balancing dark and light with This is the End — a surprisingly winning movie that could have been a nail in his career’s coffin. With a cast filled with performers who are relative unknowns, Rogen’s intent is to provide a show that will appeal to fans of the comic, but also to people who’ve never picked up a graphic novel in their life.
The series makes its debut sometime in the second half of 2016, but no official date has been announced. There will be 10 episodes in the first season and Goldberg and Rogen wrote and directed the pilot, and their fingerprints will be all over the entire run. The delicate balance Preacher demands certainly would benefit from it. The one hour first installment screened recently for critics and was met with a positive response. One can only imagine that if handled right, this could be the kind of show that could attain a very loyal viewership. And since the comic book ran for 75 issues, there’s no shortage of material to plunder.
More as soon as we know.