Will AMC dare to adapt that which HBO once shied away from?

A report began circulating on Saturday, starting at BadAssDigest.com, that AMC is developing a pilot adaptation of Preacher, the DC/Vertigo comic book series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

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Adding grist to the mill were a pair of Saturday afternoon tweets from Seth Rogen — the second of which references several Preacher characters — suggesting that he is shepherding the project:

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.—

Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) November 16, 2013



Arseface. John Wayne, The Saint of Killers.—

Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) November 17, 2013



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Preacher follows Reverend Jesse Custer, a small-town Texas minister on the verge of losing his faith when he merges with a spiritual force called Genesis — making him more mighty than the Almighty. Able to command the obedience of those who hear his words and joined by his gun-toting girlfriend Tulip and the hard-drinking Irish vampire Cassidy, Custer begins a violent journey across the country in search of answers from a disenfranchised God.

The Preacher property has been eyed multiple times in the past for small and big screen adaptations, including at the aforementioned HBO, which ultimately passed on the project in 2008. “[They] felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial,” screenwriter Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil, Ghost Rider) told Comics Continuum at the time. “Which, of course, is kind of the point!” Robert Rodriguez was rumored to be on the short list of possible directors for that take.

With Breaking Bad over, Mad Men ending, The Killing snuffed (but revived by Netflix) and Low Winter Sun in flux, AMC surely has the need for buzzy content. But when contacted by TVLine, a network spokesperson was unable to confirm the Preacher pilot rumor.

If you’re intimately familiar with the Preacher series, would you like to see a cable-TV take on it? Or is the subject matter too hot to handle uncensored?

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