There had been rumours, but now it’s official: This Is The End’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are adapting Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s critically acclaimed DC/Vertigo comic book series, Preacher. After a number of failed attempts to bring it to life on the big and small screen, AMC, the US cable network responsible for Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, have given it the green light.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will write and serve as executive producers, while Sam Catlin (Breaking Bad) has been brought on board to serve as showrunner. Neil Moritz, Vivian Cannon, Ori Marmur, Ken Levin, and Jason Netter are all set to executive produce as well.
For those of you unfamiliar with Preacher, it revolves around Rev. Jesse Custer, a bad-ass Texas preacher who, after losing his faith, learns that God has left Heaven and forsaken his duties. Jesse becomes the only one who is able to track God down – and hold him responsible for his dereliction of duties. Tulip O’Hare, Jesse’s beer-guzzling vampire ex-girlfriend, accompanies him on his quest for answers. But the story doesn’t end there – the Saint of Killers – an immortal killing machine and Western lone gunman type – is hot on their trail with the lone goal of hunting and killing Jesse.
Eisner Award-winning writer Garth Ennis released the following statement today, showing his support for the adaptation.
Steve Dillon and I are very happy to see Preacher being developed for TV, which seems a much more natural home for the story than a two-hour movie. Between them, Sony TV and AMC have brought viewers two of my favorite shows with Breaking Bad and Mad Men, and it’s exactly that kind of creative commitment and courage that Preacher needs. Obviously it’s taken a while, but Ken Levin along with Neal Moritz and his team refused to give up, long after the point when I myself grew skeptical, and their unrelenting enthusiasm for the project has gotten us where we need to be. I’m particularly impressed that Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin understand Preacher fully — meaning they get it for what it is, not some vague approximation. All in all, it looks like Preacher can now be brought to TV in a way that I’d previously not have thought possible, and I very much appreciate that Steve and I have been included in the conversation in the way that we have.
In 2008, Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil) was writing a version for HBO which would have closely adapted all 75 issues, but they passed on it because they apparently considered Preacher to be “too dark and too violent and too controversial.” Surprising, especially given the fact that they’re responsible for the likes of Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire!
Regardless, Joel Stillerman, AMC Exec VP Original Programming, Production, and Digital Content, is confident that it will find success with them. “This is a great piece of material for AMC, and we’re thrilled to begin working with the creative team behind it to make another iconic AMC series.”
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are equally as enthusiastic, with the former releasing a statement saying, “This is amazing! We’ve tried for seven years to work on Preacher and we’re so psyched AMC is finally letting us. It is our favorite comic of all time, and we’re going to do everything we can to do it right. Humperdoo!”
