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4 reasons to be excited about 'Preacher' — AMC’s upcoming gritty horror fantasy
The comic "Preacher" is about a fallen man of faith, Jesse Custer, who goes on a journey to find and literally kill God. In the comics, God has abandoned his throne in Heaven, leaving all of creation to suffer in his disappearance. What makes "Preacher" more than just a conga line of bloody, violent gross out gags, is that Jesse's journey is a highly legible metaphor for faith and its role in American society. 
What is the world like without religion? How does religion control people? Without religion as a guide, how will people make moral decisions?
The comic does a great job of balancing these questions in a way that isn't too introspective or ponderous with the graphic horror. In short, "Preacher" earns its graphic nature in a way a lot of comics with similar levels of violence don't.
What does this mean for the show? When the first episode screened during SXSW, newcomers and fans alike praised the show for how it keeps with the tone and overall mood of the comics: a smart, philosophical mind and a bleeding, gory (but still endearing) heart.
In the world of "Preacher," Heaven is far from beautiful. Much of the plot revolves around a hierarchy of angels, called Seraphim, and illustrator Garth Ennis produced remarkably vivid, nightmarish imagery that turned "Preacher" from a comic about angels and demons, to one about monsters.
Many comic fans were worried that the AMC adaptation would have to tone down the explicit nature of the comic in order to placate censors and avoid scaring off newcomers.
Showrunner Sam Catlin assured fans that, though there will be structural changes, the heart of the show will remain intact and introduce the monstrous elements at a more easily digestible pace.".
“I think we want to do it step by step,” Catlin explained. “If we showed in the first episode DeBlanc and Fiore and Heaven and their floating space station with a hole in it… you need to ratchet these things up."
"I think the idea of the show is: oh, you’re okay with vampires now? Okay, what about this? What about this and this and this? It’s like putting a frog in a bowl of boiling water or something like that so that by the time you look upon Satan, you’re like, ‘Okay, yeah. That makes sense.’”
Ignore anyone who describes Tulip as "Jesse's ex-girlfriend." From her first scene in the comics, it's clear she's her own woman. A merciless, sharp-shooting powerhouse in her own right, AMC released a clip of Tulip in a no-hold-barred knife-fight against two assassins. And that's just the first episode. English actress Ruth Negga (who appeared as Rose in Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") said in an interview with The Guardian that the character is unique among women in fiction:
“She’s sort of unforgettable," Negga said. "She has no morals. She’s an agitator assassin, a gun for hire, and she’s written the way male characters are usually written."
Negga says Tulip is a very different role for her. "Conscience is something [Tulip] buries; obviously she’s damaged. It’s really intriguing," she said. "I’d never read a part for a woman like that."
Negga has a handle not only on Tulip's violent streak, but how she holds her own, without apology, in a world dominated by men: "[Female characters] usually have a tender heart or a soft spot for some guy. Not Tulip. You read certain scenes in the script and think: are we allowed to do this? It’s great playing someone unsympathetic and not having to justify her actions," she said.
The pitch-perfect casting of Joseph Gilgun as Irish vampire Cassidy is probably lost on American audiences, but the English actor has been preparing for this role his entire career.
Gilgun gained critical acclaim for his roles as bipolar anti-hero Rudy Wade in "Misfits" and his tender and affecting, BAFTA nominated, role as a skinhead in "This is England." Gilgun is perfect at portraying characters who are rebellious and unpredictable, yet still human and vulnerable.
Cassidy, a 119-year old Irish vampire, joins Jesse on his quest to find God as the wildcard of the group: part sidekick, part turncoat, part all-out antagonist. Cassidy's love of blood, guns, and swearing will more than earn the TV-MA rating. By the comic's end there were plenty of reasons to both love and despise this character, for his cowardice as well as his bravery. We have full confidence that Gilgun can keep this polarizing character centered and hilarious.
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