The following is a list of characters from the comic book series Preacher, created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and the adaptation developed by Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen.
Overview The following actors have been credited in the opening titles of the television series adaptation of Preacher. Character Actor Seasons 1 2 3 4 Jesse Custer Dominic Cooper colspan="4" Proinsias Cassidy Joseph Gilgun colspan="4" Tulip O'Hare Ruth Negga colspan="4" Emily Woodrow Lucy Griffiths colspan="3" Sheriff Hugo Root W. Earl Brown colspan="2" Donnie Schenck Derek Wilson colspan="3" Eugene "Arseface" Root Ian Colletti colspan="4" Fiore Tom Brooke DeBlanc Anatol Yusef colspan="3" William "The Saint of Killers" Munny Graham McTavish colspan="4" Herr Klaus Helmut Starr Pip Torrens colspan="3" Adolf Hitler Noah Taylor colspan="3" Lara Featherstone Julie Ann Emery colspan="3" Hoover Malcolm Barrett T.C. Colin Cunningham colspan="2" Marie "Gran'ma" L'Angelle Betty Buckley God Almighty Mark Harelik Himself colspan="2" colspan="2" Humperdoo / The Messiah Tyson Ritter Jesus Christ
Main characters Jesse Custer
Jesse Custer, also known as Jesse L'Angelle, is a small-town church pastor who becomes fused with a powerful entity named Genesis, giving him the ability to cause people to obey whatever he commands. Using this power, he begins a journey of discovery and revenge across America, with the aim of forcing God to answer to his creation for his sins. Standing in Custer's way is a secret religious military organization mysteriously known as The Grail, as well as Custer's own twisted family.
When his soul becomes merged with the angel-demon entity Genesis, its powers, the sum of which are greater than God's, are focused into what Jesse Custer refers to as "The Word of God." When he uses The Word, his eyes turn red and his voice sounds like "nails scraping against [your] soul." Although very few can resist his commands, his victims must be able to understand them, meaning that those who do not speak English cannot be commanded by him. The Word is also initially ineffective against Jody and TC, as God has allied himself with the L'Angelle clan. Partway through the story arc, in an attempt to appease Jesse, God removes his blessing from the clan, making The Word once more effective. Custer prefers to keep his Word in reserve, using it only when necessary. He is an incredibly able hand-to-hand combatant thanks to years of brutal training forced upon him by Jody, the same man who murdered Custer's father in front of him when he was only 6 years old (as he mentions in The Alamo: "Being taught how to fight by the man who killed your daddy in front of you sure does tend to focus your concentration"). As a result, Custer is able to defend himself against multiple attackers at once and even against the superhuman strength of the vampire Cassidy. He uses the Word for all sorts of situations, from ordering a Ku Klux Klan member to 'shit himself' to calling in on a radio phone-in show and ordering the guests to tell America what they really want. In spite of his abusive upbringing, Custer firmly believes in concepts like justice and chivalry and does not hesitate to physically punish those who unfairly victimize innocent people.
In the AMC Preacher television series, Jesse Custer is portrayed by Dominic Cooper.
Tulip O'Hare Tulip O'Hare is Jesse Custer's romantic interest, and a trained marksman of exceptional skill, also being threeEnnis, Garth and Dillon, Steve. Preacher vol. 10 (January 1996), Vertigo Comics. years Jesse's elder. Her mother died during childbirth, and she was raised much like a son by her father, Jake O'Hare, who introduced her to firearms, hunting, fishing, and war stories. When Jake dies in a hunting accident, Tulip grows to hate guns. Tulip is sent to a boarding school, where she befriends the wealthy Amy Grinderbinder. The two remain friends through college and drop out together after Amy gains a large inheritance. Tulip meets Jesse while waiting for Amy at a bar. The two embark on a whirlwind romance funded by petty crime, and Tulip falls deeply in love with him, only to be devastated when he abruptly disappears.
Alone and deeply depressed, Tulip turns to drugs and alcohol, which takes such a toll on her health that she realizes she must get sober or die. Unable to afford rehab, she begs a loan from a local crime boss with the promise that she will work for him to repay her debt once she's clean. Unfortunately, the only job he has is for a hit-woman. Her first hit goes horribly wrong, and in her attempt to flee, she tries to carjack a truck being driven by Cassidy, who good-naturedly offers her a lift instead. As they are traveling through Texas, Tulip witnesses the fireball that destroys the Annville church, and she and Cassidy rescue Jesse from the wreckage.
Tulip is slow to forgive Jesse until the two of them are captured by Jesse's grandmother, Marie. While they are held hostage, Jesse explains that he never abandoned Tulip, but was kidnapped by his grandmother's henchmen, who threatened to murder Tulip if he resisted. Seconds after Tulip forgives Jesse, she is killed under Marie's orders. God soon revives her to warn Jesse that more misfortune awaits him if he continues with his quest. After killing a wounded T.C. and leaving Marie to die, Tulip and Jesse are reunited.
Jesse goes to rescue Cassidy from the Grail but takes the precaution of abandoning Tulip in a hotel room so that she will not follow him. She is furious at his lack of trust, and devastated when she believes him to be dead. Cassidy, who has always been attracted to Tulip, lies to her when she asks him for Jesse's final words. Taking advantage of her depression, Cassidy begins to supply Tulip with drugs and alcohol, weakening her resistance until she finally agrees to sleep with him, then keeping her intoxicated so that she will continue to do so. After months of this, Tulip has a moment of clarity and shoots Cassidy through the chest, driving him out a window into daylight where he bursts into flame. She reconnects with Amy, who nurses her back to health. When Tulip recovers from her ordeal, the two women road trip to New York, where Tulip learns that Jesse is alive and trying to find her. She reconciles with Jesse once more.
Jesse makes his final plan to rid himself of Genesis, to destroy Starr, and to kill God, which involves a bargain with the Saint of Killers. Still afraid that Tulip would be hurt or killed in the ensuing fight, Jesse drugs her and leaves a note explaining that he only wants her to be safe. When Tulip regains consciousness, she is enraged that Jesse has again abandoned her and follows him to the Alamo where she kills Starr during a gun battle, only after Jesse has been murdered by Starr. Later, a newly resurrected Jesse (because of an earlier deal made between Cassidy and God) tries to console Tulip over his decision to once again abandon her, but her feelings of anger and betrayal lead her to dump him after she chides his lack of trust for her. While stuck in traffic on her way to New York, she finds a letter of confession from Cassidy admitting that Jesse's last words (when he was believed to be dead) had been for her. As she reads, Jesse approaches on a (stolen) police horse and begs her to take him back. Tulip at first refuses, but has a change of heart when she sees tears in Jesse's eyes; the first time he has cried since his father was murdered. Tulip joins Jesse and the two ride into the sunset contemplating their future together.
In the AMC Preacher television series, Tulip is portrayed by Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga. In the series, her full name is revealed to be Priscilla-Jean Henrietta O'Hare and her backstory is altered with her growing up with Jesse in Annville until she is sent to foster care.
Cassidy
Cassidy, whose full name is Proinsias Cassidy, is an Irish vampire. Cassidy joins the Irish Volunteers and takes part in the Easter Rising in 1916, though his brother William (Billy) also joins to keep watch over him. Billy eventually forces Cassidy to desert the army because of its impending failure, and Cassidy is soon bitten by a "hag", who seemingly leaves fatal injuries. His body falls into the water, and he soon learns that he is not succumbing to the injuries and that the sun burns his skin. He begins to wear sunglasses to hide his eyes, which are now blood red as part of his transformation into a vampire. He decides to travel to the United States so his family and other soldiers will believe that he is dead. He lives in the United States, picking up alcohol and drug problems and even going as far as to prostitute himself for drugs.
All of the preceding is revealed to Jesse atop the Empire State Building in New York City. What he leaves out is that his addictions make him parasitical and irresponsible (In a way, making him a figurative vampire as well as a literal one), causing harm and death to those around him when he abandons them to circumstances he set in motion. Repeatedly showing a remarkable lack of forethought, many women he hooks up with and lives off of over the years end up critically injured, hopelessly addicted to drugs, or dead. After he gets the girlfriend of a friend of his killed during the "Dixie Fried" story arc, Xavier, who is a Voodoo priest says "I honestly don't believe he's an evil man. Just careless. And thoughtless. And terribly, terribly weak."
He eventually meets Tulip O'Hare and Jesse Custer while hitchhiking to Dallas, intending to start a bar called "The Grassy Knoll". Cassidy forms a strong friendship with Jesse and eventually falls in love with Tulip, though she does not reciprocate the feelings. He constantly struggles with his addictions and his feelings for Tulip, though after believing Jesse to be dead, both he and Tulip take up heavy drugs and alcohol, and start a sexual relationship. After reuniting with Jesse, he is told that Jesse no longer wants anything to do with him after finding about his history, though the two agree to meet one more time. They engage in a fist fight that Jesse's skill easily allows him to dominate, while constantly berating Cassidy. When Cassidy finally accepts his failures and begins, as Jesse puts it, "acting like a man," Jesse takes Cassidy's hand in forgiveness. Cassidy proves he's worth the gesture by walking into the sunrise to atone for all he has done, burning up in the process.
Once Jesse is gunned down by the Grail, it is revealed that Cassidy has made a deal with God hours before his confrontation with Jesse; he would beat Jesse to the point of surrender and allow Genesis to be destroyed. In return, God must allow both Jesse and Cassidy to live. Despite events not quite going to plan, God keeps His word. Jesse is revived and goes looking for Tulip, while Cassidy watches his first sunset in years as a human being, then drives off with a pledge to act like a man.