Although it seems confusing, there's something very real going on with Jesse Custer in AMC's Preacher.
In the first episode of the series, some kind of supernatural entity keeps trying to possess people, but inadvertently kills them instead (poor Tom Cruise). But this thing finally finds a host in Jesse, the small-town Texas preacher with a criminal past.
Since then, Jesse has learned about the powers this thing has given him, which makes people do whatever he tells them to do, sometimes with disastrous and disturbing effects. Jesse believes that this power comes from God, but he's about to learn that it's something else entirely.
In a sneak peek from next week's episode of Preacher, Deblanc and Fiore, who come from Heaven, finally fill Jesse in on the truth: his power comes from a being called Genesis, which is part angel and part demon. The two men explain how an angel and demon inexplicably came together during the war between Heaven and Hell in a forbidden love affair, creating Genesis.
Genesis, though, isn't just a baby created by a forbidden romance, but also has the power to change the world forever now that it is out of its box and inside Jesse. But will Jesse want to give up his newfound power?
Preacher was originally a Vertigo comic book series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, but it took some time and a very twisted road to bring the often-controversial story to a live-action project. AMC eventually got the rights to bring the comic book to life in a television series, tapping Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to write the first episode and executive produce. The network eventually ordered a 10-episode first season of the series.
"Through some weird series of circumstances, we became the most viable option," Rogen said to Entertainment Weekly. "It was in movieland for a long time and then the idea of making it a TV show was something that people were enthusiastic about again. And, to us, that was always the best way to do it. It always seemed weird to try condense it into a movie."
Fans of the comic book series have noticed some changes in the television show, specifically that Jesse doesn't kill his entire congregation, as he did in the comics, but sticks around to manipulate them into becoming better people instead. The series also sort of acts as a prequel to where the comic books started and explains how Jesse ended up getting possessed by Genesis in the first place.
Preacher airs at 9 p.m. EDT Sundays on AMC.
