I admit, I don’t expect AMC’s Preacher to follow the comic panel for panel or word for word. That said, a new casting announcement is interesting both in what it refers to in the upcoming comic book TV series… and what it’s changing.
Specifically, AMC has announced they’ve cast Elizabeth Perkins, who you might know as Celia from Weeds. But the description of the character from Tracking Board is a bit… unusual:
Perkins is set to play Vyla Quinncannon, an ambitious and terrifying businesswoman who owns the local slaughterhouse. The character has a mysterious past involving Jesse’s father.
There is, in fact, a character named Quincannon in the comic books who runs a slaughterhouse; but that would be Odin Quincannon, a polluting, racist, perverted monster who’s slowly ruining a small Texas town by hiring cheap convict labor. Jesse’s past and heritage is also involved in this story arc, but to a substantially different degree.
To be honest, I’m not sad the show’s substantially altering this particular story arc because it’s poorly written in a lot of respects. Jesse’s at a low point in his life and becomes the sheriff of a town called Salvation, and it really just gets less subtle from there. On the other hand, one imagines fans are already lighting the torches, as they always do when substantial changes are in the works. But, hey, they’ve still got Arseface!