Agents of SHIELD star joins AMC’s Preacher as Tulip

AMC’s Preacher adaptation is starting to take shape with the recent announcement that Ruth Negga (Agents of SHIELD) will take on a starring role. Negga will play Tulip, the assassin ex-girlfriend of the titular preacher, Jesse Custer. No word yet on who will don the vestments to play Custer, but Deadline’s exclusive brings this show closer to reality than HBO’s failed attempt from the early 2000’s.

The Preacher comic, written by Garth Ennis, was a cult hit in the 1990s, and follows Texas preacher Jesse Custer who goes through a crisis of faith after a being called Genesis escapes from heaven and merges with him, giving him the “Word of God.” He is joined by his gun-toting ex Tulip, Irish vampire Cassidy, and suicide survivor Arseface on a journey across America to find God.

The show is produced by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, and written by Sam Catlin. Rogan and Goldberg will direct the pilot, while Catlin will write the screenplay and serve as showrunner. I’m happy to see the show going to AMC, who has had great success with The Walking Dead, and who should take the subject matter with the same gravity of the comics. However, having a team known mostly for their comedy films makes me worried that the show will focus on the humorous aspects of the comic instead of the dramatic.

This is the second time Sony has cast a minority actress as the female lead in a comic-based project who was drawn as Caucasian in the comics. Preacher joins the studio’s Playstation series Powers co-starring Susan Heyward in that honor. While Seth Rogan has said that they plan to change the story from the comics, this change in casting could add some additional drama if Custer’s dysfunctional family is anything like the source material.