Recently, Seth Rogen had a chat with CraveOnline about adapting Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s strange tale about a disillusioned preacher, his gun-wielding girlfriend and an Irish vampire in a trek across the US to literally find God.
As expected, the process of adapting the exceedingly weird, thematically controversial and violent graphic novel would require some tweaking in order for it to be aired on a network such as AMC (even with shows likeThe Walking Dead already in its fold).
“We are changing the specifics of how the narrative is unfolding” Rogen says, “A lot of the building blocks we are not changing, a lot of characters we’re keeping, but we want to make a show that if you’re a fan of the comic, you don’t know what to expect. And we have no interest honestly in just doing a literal page-to-page adaptation. It just seems like the most boring creative endeavor one could go on!”
Rogen went on to talk about the numerous mini-series and spin-offs and its characters that have spawned from the Preacher canon, and their potential use in the show.
“I mean there’s some things that even Garth will argue, is quick to admit that we probably should not even attempt to put on television. There’s some characters, we’re talking about maybe we combine these two into one person. But to us the tangential element is one of our favorite things. The fact that it does go off into these other worlds and explore these other characters, I mean that’s something that we wholeheartedly intend on indulging in because it’s one of the best parts about the comic. Just the massive tapestry of f***ing weirdos. [Laughs.]”
And lastly, Rogen acknowledged one the biggest — potentially most perplexing — characters looming over the AMC adaptation; the spirit of John Wayne and his multiple appearances in the series. To this nagging question, Rogen definitively tells us;
“I don’t know! [Laughs.].”
*Facepalm*
“That’s a good question. Someone shrouded in shadow.”
Published between 1995 and 2000, Preacher is the epic, brutal and exceedingly bizarre story of Jesse Custer, a small town Texas preacher who, nearly at his faith’s end, finds himself merged with a supernatural entity, Genesis, birthed from both an angel and a demon. Imbued with the ‘word of God’; the ability to make anyone obey his commands. Jesse then hits the road, reunited with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip, and joined by a rowdy Irish vampire, Cassidy, to track down God himself and force him to explain why he abandoned his duties in Heaven.
A Sony Pictures Television and AMC Studios co-production, “Preacher” will be produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen through their Point Grey banner, along with Neal Moritz’s Original Film. The pilot was written by Sam Catlin who will serve as the showrunner. As of today, Preacher will premiere some time in 2016.
As always, stay plugged in to SE for more Comic Nook News as it develops.