Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga has been cast as the female lead in AMC’s pilot order for "Preacher," a drama adaptation of the comic book series about a maverick clergyman in Texas.
Sam Catlin wrote the adaptation for Neal Moritz’s Original Film shingle and will serve as showrunner. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are exec producing through their Point Grey banner, along with Catlin.
Based on the 1990s comic book series, "Preacher" is about Jesse Custer, a preacher in a Texas town who merges with a creature that has escaped from heaven and develops the ability to make anyone do anything he says. Along with his ex-girlfriend, Tulip, and an Irish vampire named Cassidy, the three embark on a journey to find God.
Negga, the first to be cast in the potential series, has signed up to play Tulip, who is described as "a volatile, action-packed, sexified force of nature, a capable, unrepentant criminal with a love of fashion and ability to construct helicopter-downing bazookas out of coffee cans and corn shine who’s not afraid to steal, kill or corn cob-stab her way out of a bad situation."
Well then… in short, she’s a bad-ass, I guess.
It’s worth noting that the character as drawn in the original comic book, is white.
The pilot will be produced this summer for series consideration in 2016.
“’Preacher’ has been our favorite comic since it first came out,” said Rogen and Goldberg, who are also attached to direct. “Garth Ennis is one of our idols and it’s an incredible honor to be working on this. We promise we won’t make too many dick jokes and ruin it.”
Negga was most recently seen on the small screen in ABC’s "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." She will next be seen in the big screen adaptation of the popular video game "Warcraft." The fantasy epic movie is being directed by Duncan Jones.
News of her "Preacher" casting was first reported by Deadline.