AMC to Adapt Preacher | Killing Time

AMC has a programming problem: they lost Breaking Bad, let Netflix take The Killing, Hell on Wheels has never really caught on despite IT being renewed while Rubicon was not (BOOOOO) and Mad Men is looking at an extended final season. They still have The Walking Dead, of course, which can continue in perpetuity since the recasting process is a pretty simple matter of having a character eaten by zombies and finding a new character and the story rolls on. They have the companion Walking Dead show, which recent reports say may be a prequel of sorts; showing more on the origins of the walkers and the early days of the collapse of civilization.

So that gives them Hell on Wheels (should it get renewed again), TWD and TWD II, plus the possibility of the Breaking Bad spin-off show Better Call Saul. It looks like they may be finding another drama based on a comic that has traveled through the desert looking for adaptation home for well over a decade. Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion, has been almost adapted so many times that I hesitate to even report on it, but it’s placement with AMC makes sense and Badass Digest’s excellent summary below can give you the details.

I will say that Preacher is going to be controversial. No, that’s probably an understatement, Preacher is going to make some demographics go bugnuts insane. Also, I’m not sure even basic cable can handle some of the things that happen in that series. In doing some digging, it looks like a pilot HAS been ordered (links to more stories on that at the bottom). If nothing else, this is going to get AMC a lot of attention.

The long journey of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon‘s cult comic series “Preacher” continues and this time it might be headed for the small screen. Badass Digestis reporting that AMC is developing the series for television and have already ordered a pilot based on the series. Previous reports had director DJ Caruso still attached to a film adaptation, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for this venture. Though no names are given, the site reports that the ones attached are “big and impressive.”

This all remains unconfirmed by AMC but given their current programming, the comic based The Walking Dead and hit western series Hell on Wheels, “Preacher” would fit in nicely with the rest of their schedule. If true, the adaptation could very well still not happen given the comic’s rocky past including an abandoned HBO pilot that never rolled in front of cameras after nearly four years in development. Check back here for confirmation and other info on the matter as we learn it.

Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, “Preacher” tells the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher, teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire, set out on a journey across America to find God — who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven — and hold him accountable for his negligence.

UPDATE: Not long after posting this story, actor/filmmaker Seth Rogen took to Twitter and made a rather enigmatic tweet of:
Looks like about seven of years of hard work are about to pay off. I may get to bring one of my favourite stories ever to life.

A little over an hour later, his meaning became a lot clearer when he tweeted:
Arseface. John Wayne, The Saint of Killers.
Basically three characters from Preacher. So how is Rogen involved with this attempt to bring the Vertigo comic to television–as a producer? Might he be directing the pilot?