‘Preacher’: AMC Goes On A Violent Search For God

“Preacher” doesn’t premiere until mid-2016, but AMC — home to “The Walking Dead” and “Hell on Wheels” — has already released a trailer for the drama.

Based on the Vertigo comic-book franchise by Northern-Irish-born Garth Ennis (with artist Steve Dillon), “Preacher” proves once again that Hollywood may dump on believers all the time, but it just can’t stop talking about God.

From AMC:

Preacher is the story of Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper, Agent Carter), a conflicted preacher in a small Texas town who is inhabited by a mysterious entity that allows him to develop a highly unconventional power. Jesse, his ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Ruth Negga, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun, This Is England) embark on a journey to, literally, find God.

In the original comic, a supernatural creature named Genesis — the offspring of a mating between and angel and a demon — possesses Custer, simultaneously destroying his church and killing his congregation.

As he’s a combination of pure good and pure evil, Genesis supposedly has powers that rival God, who apparently ditched Heaven as soon as Genesis was born. And, since Genesis inhabits Custer, the preacher also has incredible powers.

From Wikipedia:

During the course of their journeys, the three 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 nasty Cajun grandmother, her mighty bodyguard Jody, and the ‘animal-loving’ T.C

We’ll see how much of this theologically confused, Dan Brown-ian melodrama makes it into the AMC series, but considering how unflinching “The Walking Dead” is, I don’t expect the producers to pull any punches.

Also coming up in 2016 is the Fox series “Lucifer,” based on the DC Comics character, a bored Satan who abandons Hell for Los Angeles (short trip).

So, the battle between good and evil, and evil and evil, is going to get a lot of air time during Election Year — but doesn’t it always?

Here’s a peek: