There’s been some unease in the fan community about Preacher‘s second season prospects. But those fears have been rightly assuaged with today’s news. AMC has renewed Preacher for a second season and upped its episode order. We’ll be getting thirteen episodes next year as opposed to season one’s ten episodes.
Trepidation about Preacher‘s continuation has mostly come from folks who don’t pay much attention to the multiple factors that go into show renewals. Out of all of AMC’s new shows this season, Preacher has had the highest ratings, vastly outpacing Feed the Beast and Ride with Norman Reedus. It’s also had a very strong showing critically, scoring a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.6 on IMDb. AMC cares heavily about how their shows are perceived by the critical community, especially after groundbreaking shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad set the bar so high. Speaking of Breaking Bad, Preacher showrunner Sam Catlin built up tons of goodwill during his tenure with Walter White, and that clout has transferred to some serious creative control and confidence with Preacher.
I can understand fans being anxious with the show; the main thrust of the comic series is a road trip story and season one of Preacher is not that. It’s viciously different and off-book, but that’s been part of the reason I’ve been loving the show. Not knowing what’s going to happen next is invigorating, and the familiar storylines that are being set up (The Cowboy!) have kept the fan in me satiated.
Has season one been rocky? Sure it has, but no more than most first seasons. I understand the pressure audiences are putting on Preacher to be an eventual classic. I want it to be that too. But we have to let it tell its story at the pace it needs. The promise of a second season has me extremely confident that this is going to all play out for the best.
In the meantime, you should be following along with my reviews and talking about the show like crazy on social media. If you throw me some tweets, I’d love to chat about this wonderful and wicked slice of insanity.
Variety gave us this good news.
