Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

It’s going to be a year of darker comic book adaptations for the small screen with confirmation that AMC Pictures and Sony are working on a version of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher.

AMC’s Preacher will be written and executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg with Breaking Bad’s Sam Catlin as showrunner and exec producer. Neal Mortiz and Vivian Cannon are also executive producing.

“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,”  Joel Stillerman, AMC’s Executive Vice President of original programming, production and digital content explained.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg said, “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 favourite comic of all time, and we’re going to do everything we can to do it right.”

Garth Ennis said, “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  2-hour movie. Between them, Sony TV and AMC have brought viewers two of my favourite 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 sceptical, 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.”

Preacher follows Reverend Jesse Custer, a tough Texas preacher who has lost  his faith, has learned that God has left Heaven and abandoned His  responsibilities. He finds himself the only person capable of tracking God down, demanding answers, and making Him answer for His dereliction of duty.

Accompanying Jesse on his journey is his former girlfriend and a friendly  vampire who seems to prefer a pint in the pub to the blood of the innocent. On  his tail is one of the most iconic bad guys in print – an immortal, unstoppable killing machine named the Saint of Killers – a western lone gunman archetype  whose sole purpose is to hunt and kill Jesse.

The original Vertigo comic ran for 75 issues between 1995 and 2000.