The season 1 finale of AMC’s Preacher pretty much brought things up to speed with where Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic series kicked off, with the annihilation of the entire population of Annville (a few notable exceptions aside), and the (un)holy trinity of Jesse, Cassidy and Tulip hitting the road on their mission to find God.
While this will surely make fans of the source material happy, the decision to unceremoniously do away with 99% of the show’s supporting characters in one swoop has come under fire.
In an interview with Deadline, EP/co-creator Sam Catlin explains why they felt this drastic measure was necessary.
In the end, we had to clear the deck, there’s so many great characters from the comic to come. In the first season we really wanted to establish Jesse’s relationship to God and lack thereof. He is disillusioned and losing his congregation from the beginning. We needed to put Jesse’s journey into context, and his mission for next season.
One of those great new characters will be the twisted Herr Starr, who Catlin refers to as “the figure in white” that was briefly glimpsed at the beginning of episode 3. Starr represents The Grail (Grail Industries on the show) and winds up becoming Jesse’s nemesis as the story progresses. Plus, we’ll also have the relentless Saint of Killers on our trio’s trail.
Tell us, do you think the season finale of Preacher was everything it needed to be? Drop us a comment below with your thoughts.