Rumors about a possible film or television adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s cult-classic ’90s comic series Preacher have eddied for a while. The gloriously gory, perversely hilarious comic about a small-town preacher named Jesse who merges with a demon-angel entity and gains the ability to control people with his mind has so much black-comedy potential, but the show remained in purgatory for years. Plans began to gestate this past December, when Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, weed smokers par excellence, announced that they were working on a TV pilot for AMC, working off of a script by Breaking Bad scribe Sam Catlin.
Now AV Club reports that Dominic Cooper, best known for his portrayal of Tony Stark’s father Howard on Agent Carter and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been tapped to play the lead role. Elizabeth Perkins will join Cooper as Vyla Quinncannon, a woman with a mysterious connection to the preacher, according to Deadline.
With his perfect mustache and impeccable timing, Cooper has been a consistent pleasure on Agent Carter (he had fancy shoes to fill; John Slattery played Howard Stark in Iron Man 2). Having previously taught Abraham Lincoln how to kill vampires, Cooper will now enlist the assistance of an Irish vampire (no, not that Irish vampire) on his quest to meet God. He’s an ambitious fellow.