Preacher adaptation repairs a church, destroys a helicopter

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The pilot episode for a prospective AMC TV series based on Garth Ennis's PREACHER, a comic book I highly recommend picking up, is currently filming in locations around New Mexico, and it seems the crew is working in a bit of community service during production.

An interesting article on SantaFeNewMexican.com tells of how residents of the small town of Lamy, New Mexico have been trying for decades to restore the local, long abandoned Catholic church. The church got a new roof eight years ago, but many other repairs were still necessary. The restoration effort has now gotten a boost, as the interior of the church has been chosen as a PREACHER filming location, and some of the show's budget will be going toward repairing the church's base structure, replacing its stained glass windows, and doing some electrical work.

The PREACHER crew won't be touching the outside of the church, as a different location will be used for exterior shots. That seems somewhat unfortunate, as the exterior of this place does have potential.

PREACHER tells the following story:

Reverend Jesse Custer, a tough Texas preacher who has lost his faith, has learned that God has left Heaven and abandoned His responsibilities. He finds himself the only person capable of tracking God down, demanding answers, and making Him answer for His dereliction of duty. Accompanying Jesse on his journey is his former girlfriend and a friendly vampire who seems to prefer a pint in the pub to the blood of the innocent. On his tail is one of the most iconic bad guys in print – an immortal, unstoppable killing machine named the Saint of Killers – a western lone gunman archetype whose sole purpose is to hunt and kill Jesse.

The pilot is being directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who are developing the series with Sam Catlin. Rogen has been sharing some pictures from the set, most recently a shot of a helicopter that has received the opposite of the restoration treatment.

The goal is to have PREACHER airing on AMC in 2016.