The new TV series Preacher based on the popular comic book of the same name will have many similarities but a lot of differences according to the show’s creators …
For the past decade, Garth Ennis’ hugely popular cult comic Preacher was touted as one of the hottest items to be adapted for television or a movie, but no one seemed to be able to get the job done until now.
AMC has picked up Preacher for 10 episodes with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Caitlin serving as executive producers, but they revealed on Friday that as much as they love the comic book source material, the show will take a dramatic departure in certain areas and stories that will end up on TV.
“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,” Rogen said at the Television Critics Association event. “There’s tons of stuff from the comic that we hope to include.”
Those words might send more than a few shivers down the spines of the loyal comic book readers who followed the series for all 66 issues between 1995 and 2000. Obviously made for TV adaptations are always going to take certain liberties with the source material but it sounds like more than a few changes were made to get Preacher ready for viewing audiences to finally watch in 2016.
Still the producers promise that comic book fans will be satisfied with the finished product and there are plenty of nods to the original work that decorate the series throughout the first season.
“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,” Caitlin said.
Preacher is based on the story of Reverend Jesse Custer (played by Dominic Cooper), a small town preacher whose faith has been shaken lately but after a half angel-half demon entity called Genesis merges with him and God literally abandons his throne, Jesse and his friends are forced to go on a search to find the deity before all hell breaks loose.
How much of that original story remains is still unclear but the creative team behind the show wouldn’t have made Preacher for television if the elements of the comic book weren’t included.
“We want fans who love the comic to get everything they want, but also get some new twists and turns,” Goldberg explained.
There’s still no word on when Preacher will debut but the series will land at some point in 2016. There are plans in place for the debut episode of Preacher to debut at the SXSW festival in Austin, Tex. this year.
