Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy hit the roaring road, on the search for God Almighty, as Preacher returns to AMC on Sunday, June 25th at 10/9c.

Preacher: Season 2 Images 27 IMAGES

Loading

We've got a first look at some "powerful" new Season 2 key art for you, as well as a revealing chat with star Dominic Cooper, where he discusses this year's crazy road-trip premise, Jesse's continued mishandling of the Genesis power, Tulip's secret, insane new fights scenes, and more.Based on the popular cult comic book franchise of the same name, Preacher is an absurdly twisted and action packed thrill ride. When Jesse Custer (Cooper), a small-town preacher with a criminal past, realizes God is absent from Heaven, Jesse sets out to find Him. Along for the ride are Tulip (Ruth Negga), Jesse’s volatile true love, and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), an 119 year old Irish vampire and Jesse’s best mate. In Season 2, the gang ends up in New Orleans, where they must dodge local gangsters, dangerous secret agents in white suits, and the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish), an unstoppable killer cowboy from Hell.Check out the new key art in the gallery below (look for a shadowy glimpse of the aforementioned Saint of Killers), along with more new Season 2 art, and then continue on to see what Dominic Cooper has to say about the chaos of Season 2...It's been odd, actually. But it's been odd in a great way. It almost feels like we're in a totally different show to some extent. And the landscape and the backdrop of where we are is playing a role, as it did before, just like the backdrop of Annville and the slower pace of the town were very much a part of the atmosphere of that first season. I think now things are much more hectic and ever-changing. Evolving as we visit new landscapes and areas. It's lends itself to the madness of our inner psychology, I suppose. Which seems, at first, like a straight road complete with clarity. And the idea that Jesse is following is very specific. But that very quickly starts to deteriorate and fall apart. I think that's been very cleverly integrated into the scripts with this idea of being on the road.In a way, it sort of does, but actually I found it to be a bit more clearer before, most certainly as far as what Jesse's role was last season. He was returning to a place that he remembers being home and to where he felt anything close to a family, and that was kind of easy to explain. He was trying to help a congregation of people, but he was failing. But now there are these three lost souls. They're just sort of clinging onto each other with the hopes of finding some meaning to their existence through the journey they've embarked upon. You could describe it as a road trip, but it's only that for a while and then it becomes more about the impending doom of a relationship that the three of them have. I mean, you can see that it's going to be an absolute car crash. If you put those three characters down on paper and you saw some sort of character analysis for the three of them you would pretty much surmise that this thing was going to end in absolute disaster.Yeah, and there are these wonderful little moments... In fact, the audience has a clearer understanding of what's going on and that gives them, I suppose, a confidence but also a fear - some trepidation because they know how things could possible go. Because who knows how Jesse will react to that information, if and when he finds out? You can start to see them all trying to protect each other but at the same time, they're people who've never been taught, and never had any guidance, about how to live their lives and how to treat one another. And as the audience, you're more aware of what their failings are and I think you're pretty worried about how on earth it will all end. So things will slowly unfold and we'll see how the three of them being with one another over the course of the season shakes out. And just the number three as well. We all know, just from school or from nature and such, how complicated the dynamic of three people can be. It always becomes one-sided. Two gang up on the other one. It's a difficult combination of people. Certainly with these three.It becomes much more reckless, but in totally the wrong moments. I think it shows us a discrepancy in his attitude toward what's good and what's bad. It's very random in its usage and it could be used for such good. It's a real underlying problem, that he's been allowed to exist with this extraordinary power with very little context of what it actually is and what impact it can truly have. You see this part of him also become a car crash in its own right, and it unfolds in a terrible manner and you're desperate for him to acknowledge what he could do with it. You also become aware very quickly of the reason why it's actually not a good thing for him to have been given. You become more aware than the three characters do of what catastrophes could lie ahead when you use this power with such abandon and without real contemplation. It becomes a very dangerous entity for all three of them.It's been wonderful having that source material. It's something you can always refer back to. It's also something we've had to move on from it with regards to having to develop something very different for television. Although it's great to feel the ambience of the comic series and what it offers. The wonderful thing about them is that they're like storyboards. We've got these wonderful storyboards, in a sense, and they're very filmic. In terms of character, it's not necessarily helpful because you've moved on and you have to acknowledge the details created by the writers and the collaborators of this series who decided who these people are. But you can always look back and admire the creative world that Garth [Ennis] was writing for and remember how extreme they can be. And that's something about the show too, like the comics, is that it never sits on its laurels. It's constantly turning things on their heads and surprising people. In any case, it's great to have that source material. It can only enhance your understanding of who you're playing.I don't know how much I can give away about who's coming to the show. I think they've chosen the characters very wisely though. They get slowly dropped in and I think they'll make things -- well, you'll see. There's this one certainly that I have a confrontation with. Actually, two major characters from the comics that I have a big confrontation with, that's very very exciting. And it will be the main, sort of, influence for Jesse's new idea of himself and what leads him forward and what gives him the power to continue. And there are many more to come. And right at the end of this one, there's another meeting for Jesse that I think will be particularly exciting for both comic fans and for those who've never read them. They're such wonderfully insane and well drawn-out and terrifying characters and they're all going to come to the forefront. There's just a couple now that we're going to deal with. And what's good about that is that they're not just manically throwing in this major characters from the comics. They're pulling them apart and working out exactly who they are.Yes, to be specific, but not too specific. We have an incredible fight director and a tremendous stunt team and I think one of the major conversations that they had early on was that they didn't just want to have fighting for the sake of fighting. That's not what it's meant to be. If it's there, it has purpose. It has an impact. In particular, there are two coming this next season that I've been working on which do exactly that. They're completely and utterly unlike anything I've ever witnessed really. They will be again very shocking, but also brilliantly put together and very exciting to watch. For example, I had to learn an entire fight sequence from start to finish without it being cut or pulled apart. It's one sequence and you can tell that it's me who's doing it. That will be wonderful to watch.

Preacher returns Sunday, June 25th at 10/9c on AMC.Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler