Preacher
AMC's adaptation of the Ennis and Dillon Vertigo comic: Dominic Cooper as an outlaw preacher who commands anyone with a word, Graham McTavish as the Saint of Killers. 4 seasons of blasphemy, blood and jokes.
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
AMC spent years in development hell with Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Vertigo comic before Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin finally got it on the air, and what came out is the strangest hit the network ever had. Dominic Cooper plays Jesse Custer, an outlaw turned preacher in tiny Annville, Texas, who loses his congregation, his girlfriend and his grip on reality in one week, right about the time an entity called Genesis moves in and hands him the Word, the power to command anyone to do anything he says out loud.
The first season sets up the town and the power, then the show hits the road. Jesse, his volatile ex Tulip (Ruth Negga, magnificent) and an alcoholic Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun, a revelation) chase God across America while the Saint of Killers (Graham McTavish, a force of nature with two revolvers) walks through everyone standing between him and Jesse. It is violent, blasphemous, profane and regularly hilarious, and Pip Torrens runs the world’s best henchman organization in a white suit with a British accent.
The numbers hold up: an average Tomatometer of 87% across four seasons, peaking at 92% in season three, and 7.9 on IMDb from 87K voters. The animated Saint of Killers origin episode in season two is the best thing AMC ever aired and nobody talks about it enough. The final season cools to 77% and fans still argue about whether the ending sticks the comic’s landing, so go judge that yourself. Graham McTavish played three different orcs in the Lord of the Rings films and never wasted a single one of them either.
All 43 episodes stream on Hulu and AMC+. Watch it if you liked the Ennis comic, if you want the Saint of Killers explained, or if you have been looking for a modern western with a god problem.
