Preacher is Too "Controversial" for HBO?

 

Apparently so.  I don't know how I missed this, but HBO was in talks to make a TV series based on Garth Ennis' groundbreaking comic series Preacher.  I say "was in talks" because those talks have ended and HBO has passed on making the series.  Mark Steven Johnson, who had been working on the project with HBO, had the following to say about the now defunct prokect:

 

"We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going," Johnson told The Continuum. "But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point!"

 

"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO

 

"I've heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies as one movie couldn't do it justice. I really love that story and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth's work. But it wasn't meant to be.

 

Too dark and controversial?  For HBO?  Seriously!?!?  I thought they thrived on shows like this.

 

This news makes me sad.  Preacher is an incredible comic series.  Sure it also happens to be one of the most fucked up things I've ever read, but the story is absolutely epic.  Now it looks like we'll never get to see the Saint of All Killers face down the US Army in the middle of the desert.