There’s no small amount of anticipation for the upcoming Preacher television series (based on the wildly popular comic book series of the same name), and now producer Seth Rogen has posted what appears to be the very first photo of actor Dominic Purcell as the series’ lead, Reverend Jesse Custer.
Rogen released the dark image via Twitter late Thursday night, which seems to be a shot of Purcell and actor Ian Colletti, who portrays the disfigured character “Arseface” in the series. In the background of the image appears to be Rogen’s frequent collaborator, Evan Goldberg, who co-wrote and directed the pilot (along with serving as another producer on the series).
#Preacher pic.twitter.com/9FTe0OxxqC
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 15, 2015
The original Preacher comic book series was published from 1995 to 2000 and followed the journey of a disillusioned Texas preacher Jesse Custer, who finds himself suddenly imbued with “The Word of God” — the ability to make people obey his spoken commands. After reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Tulip and his rowdy Irish drinking buddy, Casidy (who just happens to be a vampire), the trio set off on a mission to locate God and force him to answer for abandoning his post in Heaven.
The comic book series was written by Garth Ennis, who penned some of the most popular story arcs in the history of several Marvel Comics and DC Comics characters, including The Punisher and John Constantine.
Along with Cooper and Colletti, the series stars Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy and Ruth Negga as Tulip, as well as W. Earl Brown as Arseface’s father. Lucy Griffiths plays a character created for the series, and Elizabeth Perkins plays another original character for the series, Vyla Quinncannon. (The character is an altered version of a character from the comic book.)
While there’s no premiere date set for the series so far, rumors suggest that AMC is planning to debut the series in 2016. Breaking Bad writer and co-producer Sam Catlin co-wrote the pilot episode and will serve as the showrunner for the series.
