According to a piece at Slashfilm, AMC has officially ordered a pilot based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's acclaimed Vertigo series "Preacher."
The Sony Pictures Television and AMC Studios co-production was developed for TV by "Breaking Bad's" Sam Catlin with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen and Goldberg will produce through their Point Grey banner, along with Neal Moritz's Original Film. The pilot was written by Sam Catlin. Rogen and Goldberg are attached to direct.
"Every once in a while you find a project where all the elements line up beautifully. With 'Preacher,' it starts with a bold, compelling, and thought-provoking comic book series from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and a whole lot of fans who already know Jesse Custer, Cassidy, and Tulip," said Joel Stillerman, AMC's executive vice president of original programming, production and digital content. "Add to that the passionate and talented Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin, an incredible producing team in Neal Moritz, the Original Film team and our good friends at Sony Pictures Television, and we have everything we need to be VERY excited to move forward on 'Preacher.'"
"Preacher has been our favorite comic since it first came out," Rogen and Goldberg said in a joint statement. "Garth Ennis is one of our idols and it's an incredible honor to be working on this. We promise we won't make too many dick jokes and ruin it."
"Steve Dillon and I are extremely pleased to know AMC has taken 'Preacher' to pilot," said Ennis. "We have had an ongoing voice in the efforts of the writers whom Sony TV and Original Film entrusted with this project, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Sam Catlin, and have been most gratified that they continue to include us, and that they have tackled the project with the type of unwavering commitment and courage needed to present the material as Steve and I intended. This has been a long time coming, but that it continues apace, and with the chance to be delivered episodically, gives 'Preacher' an opportunity to be seen in its best possible medium, not previously possible. And many thanks indeed to Ken Levin and Neal Moritz for their never flagging commitment to 'Preacher,' and for never giving up well past the point when I myself grew skeptical -- we have principally gotten to where we are today because of Neal and Ken."
For those not in the know, "Preacher" ran for 75 issues on DC's Vertigo imprint from 1995 until 2000. "Preacher" tells the tale of Jesse Custer, a preacher in the small Texas town of Annville. Custer was accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature named Genesis in an incident which killed his entire congregation and flattened his church.
Genesis, the product of the unauthorized, unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon, is an infant with no sense of individual will. However, as it is composed of both pure goodness and pure evil...and it just might have enough power to rival that of God Himself. In other words, Jesse Custer, bonded to Genesis, may have become the most powerful being in the whole of living existence.
Custer, driven by a strong sense of right and wrong, goes on a journey across the United States attempting to (literally) find God, who abandoned Heaven the moment Genesis was born. He also begins to discover the truth about his new powers. They allow him, when he wills it, to command the obedience of those who hear and comprehend his words. He is joined by his old girlfriend Tulip O'Hare, who's an ace with a pistol, as well as a hard-drinking, Irish vampire named Cassidy.
During the course of their journeys, the trio encounter enemies and obstacles both sacred and profane, including: the Saint of Killers, an invincible, quick-drawing, perfect-aiming, come-lately Angel of Death answering only to "He who sits on the throne"; a disfigured suicide attempt survivor turned rock-star named Arseface; a serial-killer called the "Reaver-Cleaver"; The Grail, a secret organization controlling the governments of the world and protecting the bloodline of Jesus; Herr Starr, ostensible Allfather of the Grail, a megalomaniac with a penchant for prostitutes, who wishes to use Custer for his own ends; several fallen angels; and Jesse's own redneck "family," particularly his wicked Cajun grandmother, her bad-ass bodyguard Jody, and the sexually depraved T.C.
The pilot will be produced in the summer of 2015 for series consideration in 2016.
