The record-breaking23 Emmy nominations forThe Studiomark a new high point forSeth RogenandEvan Goldberg. For years, they have collaborated on comedy movies, andThe Studiois their most recent creative partnership over on TV. Long before their hit Apple TV+ series, Rogen and Goldberg madePreacher, a dark comedy, neo-Western series thataired on AMCfrom 2016 to 2019. And there is no better time than now to watchbefore it leaves Netflixon August 19.
What Is the Gory Neo-Western ‘Preacher’ About?
InPreacher, an outlaw-turned-preacher, his volatile ex-girlfriend, and his friend, who happens to be a 119-year-old vampire, go on an epic, blasphemous journey thatblendssci-fi and the supernaturalalong with bone-breaking, gut-spewingbrutal violence. A disfigured boy, an angel, and an undead gunslinger are merely some of the faces this trio of anti-heroes will meet throughout four seasons of this show with an87%Rotten Tomatoesscore. As apassion project of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg,Preacherwas the project that finally brought the partners to TV, and the result was as funny and shocking as their films work.
Season 1kicks off with a bang. An object shoots through space to reach Earth, but it’s no comet. It’s a supernatural entity looking for a suitable host, and it first strikes down in Kenya to inhabit a preacher. Moments later, he explodes, splattering his congregation with his flesh and blood. The entity moves on to aScientologyevent whereTom Cruiseis also deemed unworthy and explodes. When it travels to the small town of Annville, Texas,it finds a host in the local preacher, Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper).Trying to redeem himself from his outlaw past and honor the memory of his religious father, Jesse’scrisis of faithis fixed with the sudden divine powers he gains from the entity. You will know from the first episode ifPreacher, based on the DC comic of the same namebyGarth EnnisandSteve Dillon, is for you.
‘Preacher’ Is Full of Bizarre Characters That Form Strong Bonds
Annville is the last place anyone would expect a cosmic force to settle in.The isolated prairielandscape is desperately in need of steady rainfall. There is an assortment of unusual characters living in town, and this is especially true of those who are close to Jesse. Eugene (Ian Colletti) is a teen boy looking for spiritual guidance, with a disfigured mouth that has been left in the shape of an anus. DeBlanc (Anatol Yusef) is an angel trying to recapture the entity inside Jesse by luring it into a can of Old Timer Coffee. Jesse’s ex-girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga) hopes he will forget his holy duties and return to the life of crime they shared.
And there’s Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), a hedonisticIrish vampirewho gets stranded in Annville. The main trio that soon forms between Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy is not the best suited to protect the world. They will raise some hell as much as the cosmic forces that arrive. Their impulse for violence leads to dark, cringey,gross-out humor, three types of comedy that are popular in Rogen and Goldberg’s collaborations. It makes perfect sense for them to be the ones to adaptPreacher,after years of failed attemptsto get the property to the screen.
‘Preacher’ Was One of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Earliest Producing Projects
Preacheris one of many projects Goldberg and Rogen have developed together, from writing the script forPineapple Expressto their directorial debut inThis Is the End. They worked for years to get this supernatural Western show made, due to the source material. “It was a comic we bonded over in high school,” Goldberg explained in an interview withThe Hype Magazine. When the two friends, at last, got their chance after other networks (including HBO) were unsuccessful, the pair proved to be the right ones to handle the adaptation, along withshowrunnerSam Catlin.
This Classic TV Western Changed Most of Its Cast Halfway Through Its Run
This series was never the same after the tragic loss of lead actor Ward Bond.
WhilePreacherdoesn’t have the staggering number of celebrity cameos as inThe Studio, Rogen and Goldberg’s love for pop culture and storytelling is so palpable on the screen. In Season 1, a scene fromPsychoplays to help an Annville resident plan a death, and Cassidy voices his complaints overThe Big Lebowski. Those are fun nods by the pair, but the show is at its best when it delivers graphic violence. AlthoughPreacheris not a faithful retelling of the comics(Season 1 holds off an annihilation event that comes early in the comics), the tone and characters are mostly intact, and that goes for how brutal the story gets. Wherever Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy go, unhinged carnage follows.
The World of ‘Preacher’ Is Very Violent and Always Weird
A good amount of the show’s budget surely must’ve gone to blood squibs, given how much blood splashes onto the characters and sets throughout the series. There is a breakneck pace to the depravity. Being a vampire, Cassidy is going to feast on blood, and it will make a mess. If angels inPreacherare killed by human means (shot, stabbed, etc.), they will resurrect while their old body is left behind. And what is more frightening than an unstoppableslasher like Jason Voorhees? Tryan unstoppable killing machine from the Wild West, known as theSaint of Killers (Graham McTavish). A bullet from his unholy revolvers will execute anyone, be it human or angel.
The episodes ofPreachermay be unpredictable, but death and violence are always a certainty. At the center of all this is Dominic Cooper’s Jesse. He isn’t a hero, although he would say otherwise. His self-devotion, oncehe becomes the host to the entity named Genesis,makes him reckless, and his actions tend to cause collateral damage. He has the power to force people to obey his commands when he speaks, but is it the word of God, like he believes, or something else?
Seeking the answer to that question and others is a wild ride through a crude, bloodthirsty world, brought to life by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg before they were executive producers on later comic adaptations such asThe BoysandInvincible. The title of the AMC show and many of the characters within it may heavily focus on faith, but here is a fair warning. Nothing is sacred when the kill count can becartoonishly over-the-topor savagely cruel.Preacheris set to leave Netflix faster than a bullet from the Saint of Killers, so it’s now or never to catch up with Jesse, his friends, andthe forces of Heaven and Hell out to get them.
