Preacher Adapted For TV Instead Of Movie

PreacherThere has been a lot of talk for a couple of years of various attempts to bring the Vertigo comic “Preacher” to the big screen. One of the most notable attempts was by Kevin Smith with X-Men’s James Marsden in the lead role (you know… I totally could have seen that work). But now word has come out that Preacher will NOT be heading to the big screen… instead… HBO is developing a TV series for the story. And come to think of it… that’s not a bad idea.

Not sure what Preacher is? Here’s a quick synopsis:

“Preacher,” which ran from 1995-2000, told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God — who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven — and hold him accountable for his negligence.

With shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica (greatest show in the history of television) and even now Heroes, it becoming clear that one of the advantages TV has over movies is TIME. Heroes can take 4, 8, or 14 hours to layout, set up and properly tell a complex and deep story. A movie doesn’t have that advantage or luxury. A movie has 2 hour (on average) to introduce the characters, set up the plot, get us attached to the primaries and draw it all to a close. All in two hours.

I was disappointed to hear Preacher wasn’t coming to a theater near me… but as I think about it… a property like Preacher is probably better suited for a TV series. More time equals more depth… and Preacher has a lot of depth. (Source: MovieHole)

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22 thoughts on “Preacher Adapted For TV Instead Of Movie

  1. HBO is the perfect place for this kind of property. They did a GREAT job with the Spawn property and shows like The Wire, which may move “slower” than network material, but need the time to build the story world and it’s characters. Far as I’m concerned Preacher has found the promised land on HBO.

  2. No one else rolled their eyes at this news? really?

    The story sounds fucking amazing yes, but its HBO….how many times are you going to let these bastards rope you in?

    Carnavale anyone?

    Maybe some Deadwood?

    They are going to fuck you people, right in the ass. The show will be amazing and you will all love it, and then HBO will rip the rug right from under your feet. They are going to talk about how there was no immediate increase in monthly subscriptions, about how it costs too much to produce yadda yadda yadda.

    HBO needs to wake up, they keep looking for the next Sex in the City, which topped out at I think 10 million viewers an episode, but even Entourage, arguably the most popular HBO show currently airing, and its at only about 5 million per episode.

    Downloading isn’t effecting the movie industry nearly as much as its effecting Pay TV, whos going to pay a monthly fee when you can download it easily for free. HBO even said Entourage numbers are completely false because of illegal downloading.

    Sadly, this show will air for maybe a season and then get yanked. Id rather Kevin Smith direct a trilogy of films and I could totally see James Marsden in the lead, he needs something dark to give him the edge he’s been missing.

    Nord

  3. A couple of thigns here:
    Miles, you may or may not have heard of a show called “Babylon 5”. I was never a big fan of the show, but to my understanding they mapped out the entire show before shooting.

    In regards to this show, I had heard that Alan Ball, the man behind The Sopranos (how I miss you) and Six Feet Under (with a series finale where fi you didn’t cry, you have no soul) was creating a series that had something to do with vampires for HBO.

    What if these two items were related?

    That would be something.

  4. This might be the best damn news I’ve read all week. A HBO series is exactly what ‘Preacher’ should be adapted into.

    And I would love to lean on someone’s cubicle some Monday morning and chuckle with a co-worker about how Jesse Custer made someone literally go fuck himself with “The Word.” Man, would that be fun.

    (My vote, by the way, even though he’s already done ‘The Wire’ for HBO would go to Dominic West for playing Custer.)

  5. My brother in law loves the hell out of these books. I’ve never gotten the chance to really read them all the way through, but I at least got what they story was about.

    James Marsters would make a good Jesse Custer.

  6. I am so glad they are not going to make some watered down condensed film of this….this ois the best news I have heard in years….Please do it right HBO……HBO seem to push the envelope more than most studios these days….

    Look at what is happening to his drak materials..aren;t they cutting out all the religious themes??anyway…

    Jason Patric would have been great when he was a bit younger…he might be a bit old now….I find marsden to bland…Patric is hardly mr charisma but he is intense….

    this could be a fantastic show..as long as it is on cable and not one of the standard networks……

  7. It appears I clicked on the submit button too early…
    If HBO were to develop Preacher, then I can see that happening. It could work. Kind of wished Preacher would go to the big screen though, maybe do a trilogy. Still vote for Kevin Smith to direct.

  8. I really can’t see Preacher being made for T.V., I have three of the books, and I enjoy them a great deal. There’s no way Preacher can be made with T.V. standards and practices, and still have the same quality of story. Preacher is bloody violent, and very x-rated, but very very very good.

    I know Kevin Smith is a HUGE fan of the Preacher series, my vote is for Kevin to direct.

  9. Exciting stuff – I’m not a huge comic book fan, but I like the Preacher series a lot.

    Just one question: won’t the extremity of the violence be a little much for television? I’m not really interested in seeing a watered-down translation…

  10. having read Preacher, I can see Christian groups getting REALLLLY pissed off at the content of this series. preacher isn’t confusing, but for anyone who’s read “proud americans” they’ll know what I mean

    but HBO’s a great forum, and hopefully it will rock

  11. I think this will be fantastic.

    There is too much to the story of “Preacher” to be told in a 2 hour movie. Everyone likes to say watchmen should have been an HBO series but I disagree, Preacher is the series that NEEDS to be told as a series.
    I cant wait to see the Saint of Killers brought to life.

    Good news, I say…
    Good news indeed.

  12. this makes me think of one of my biggest pet peeves with tv:

    they have all this time to create a huge story, but it seems like at the time of inception the story line is not thought all the way through. it is like you have a nice enough house, but you just keep doign renovations that may or maynot be as nice as the original.

    confused? allow me to elaborate.

    a movie has three acts. start, middle, end.

    a tv series has a million episodes and may or may not continue depending on a million different variables.

    this is what i think studios working in tv should start doing:

    map out your ENTIRE story arc ahead of time. then finish the damn thing in 3 – 4 seaons before it gets stale. tell a story that is all cooked at once, don’t add onto it because you think you can get away with it for another season.

    this way at the end of it we have a plot that is all one piece, not strung together. think of the possibilities.

    that is one of my personal pet peeves with TV vs. movies. i think it results in us getting a lower quality product.

    /half way to unrelated ramble over.

  13. HBO could probably do this really, really well. They did the Spawn cartoon, and that was apparently very accurate to the comic and very well-received (I say “appareantly cause I never saw it). This could be a good move for Vertigo, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.

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