AMC’s Preacher is stepping up its game. Following months of speculation, which were likely part of a lengthy negotiation process, Dominic Cooper officially signed on last week to headline the series. In the role of preacher Jesse Custer, Cooper will lead his best friend, an Irish vampire, and his ex-girlfriend, a badass called Tulip across the US to hunt down God. And no trek would be complete without loads of nasties along the way. While we already know Arseface is set to make an appearance – and what a delightful one that will be – there’s another newcomer set to make life hell for Jesse.
Elizabeth Perkins, aka the poufy-haired older lady who seduces Tom Hanks in Big, has signed on to star as a character created solely for the TV adaptation. Vyla Quinncannon shares a name with one of the most hideous villains from the source material – the repugnant Odin Quinncannon – and she also runs the local slaughterhouse. In comparison to Odin’s businesses, it sounds like Vyla could be his onscreen female equivalent considering he ran a meat-packing factory, which isn’t a million miles away from a slaughterhouse.
And while that slight change from the source material may deter hardcore fans of Garth Ennis and Tom Dillon’s original comic, that small switch could be the only major change to occur. Ennis recently discussed the style of the show with the folks at Gotham News, assuring them that despite the show’s network home it won’t water down any of its NSFW elements:
“I don’t think AMC’S PREACHER adaptation is going to be that mainstream. I’ve read the scripts and I would not describe it as mainstream really. That’s the kind of thing to be honest with you that I never worry about. I just tell the stories and the sequence they appear in alongside each other isn’t really my concern. I don’t tend to worry how much about how things are received; I’m just more interested in telling the story.”
Turning to the show’s development, when GN asked if part of that source material loyalty is down to Seth Rogen and Seth Goldberg, he agreed in the affirmative:
“That’s the reason it’s happening, because Seth Rogen is a fan of PREACHER. If that were not the case we wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as we have.”
Co-starring Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Ian Colletti and Lucy Griffiths, Preacher is expected to enter production shortly ahead of its 2016 debut on AMC.
Based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s twisted ‘90s comic book series, Preacher is about Jesse Custer, a conflicted Preacher in a small Texas town who merges with a creature that has escaped from heaven and develops the ability to make anyone do anything he says. Along with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip, and an Irish vampire named Cassidy, the three embark on a journey to literally find God.