Back in January, AMC announced that SXSW attendees would get an early look at Preacher, thereby widening the gulf between festival devotees and comic-book nerds, albeit unintentionally. The premiere will be screened in Austin this afternoon, and now we know exactly how long everyone who attended the festival—including intrepid members of The A.V. Club—will be able to lord their advance knowledge over the rest of us: Variety reports AMC will air the series premiere on Sunday, May 22.
Preacher will debut following Fear The Walking Dead’s mid-season finale, presumably to finally give AMC viewers something more (or less) realistic to be scared of than flesh-eating amblers. The premiere episode will air at 10 p.m. ET; and in its divine wisdom, i.e., acknowledgement of long weekends, AMC will hold encore presentations, including back-to-back airings, on Sunday, May 29 (that’s Memorial Day’s Eve). New episodes of Preacher will resume on June 5.
Based on what we currently know about the series, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s adaptation won’t remain completely faithful to the source material—which is kind of fitting, given the source material. Some characters are getting expanded roles, while others have lost their shades. Then there’s the matter of Odin Quincannon, as portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley, who’s made his way up from the second half of the comics to nab a six-episode run, and appears poised to be the first season’s Big Bad. But we suppose we’ll just have to wait two more months to find out. In the interim, here’s the premiere-date poster, which is a profile in Jesse Custer’s (Dominic Cooper) smoking courage.