We already have official confirmation that Dominic Cooper will lead AMC’s “Preacher” in the title role, and now Deadline reports that “Weeds” star Elizabeth Perkins has also joined the cast. Perkins will play Vyla Quinncannon, a new character who shares a name with one of the most vile villains from the source material – she also runs the local slaughterhouse and shares a history with Jesse’s father which she’ll use to hold over Jesse.
“Preacher,” published between 1995 and 2000, tells the story of Custer, a small town Texas preacher who, nearly at his faith’s end, finds himself merged with a supernatural entity, Genesis, birthed from both an angel and a demon. Imbued with the word of God (the ability to make anyone obey his commands), Jesse hits the road, reunited with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip, and joined by a rowdy Irish vampire, Cassidy, to track down God himself and force him to explain why he abandoned his duties in Heaven.
Dominic Cooper leads the cast that also includes Joseph Gilgun as the vampire Cassidy, Ruth Negga as his gun-toting ex-girlfriend Tulip, Ian Colletti as the kindhearted yet startling Arseface, and Lucy Griffiths as Emily Woodrow, an original character in the series and love interest of Jesse’s.
A Sony Pictures Television and AMC Studios co-production, “Preacher” will be produced by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen through their Point Grey banner, along with Neal Moritz’s Original Film. The pilot was written by Sam Catlin and has Rogen and Goldberg attached to direct. “Preacher” is set to shoot this year with an eye toward premiering in 2016.
