One of my favorite shows on television is AMC’s Preacher, which is based on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic series and brought to life by Seth RogenEvan Goldberg, and Sam Catlin. Loaded with crazy characters, graphic violence, sick humor, and really well done action set pieces, Preacher consistently surprises and it’s like nothing else on TV.

If you’re not familiar with the story, Preacher started off with an inaugural season that was essentially a prequel to events that happen throughout the violent graphic novel, which revolves around a preacher (Dominic Cooper) who has inherited a power called Genesis (a supernatural entity that has chosen his body as a host and gives him the power to make people do whatever he says). Now entering its third season, the show is using more of the source material as it follows Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), his girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga), and his friend and vampire Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) as they search for God.

With Preacher season 3 now airing on Sunday night's on AMC, I recently got to speak with Joseph Gilgun. He talked about what it takes to make an episode of Preacher in eight shooting days, what the third season is about, how much he knows about each season going in, the unique nature of the show, what would surprise people about the making of the show, and a lot more.

Check out what Joseph Gilgun had to say below and tune in Sunday night if you want to see some fantastic television.

ruth-negga-preacher-season-3
Image via AMC

Collider: Let me start by saying I am a huge fan of the show and I'm very happy you guys got picked up for a season three.

JOSEPH GILGUN: Aww, thanks man. I appreciate that dude. I had a great time this year.

Oh, I can only imagine. How much does Sam [Catlin] and everybody tell you about the arc of the season prior to filming that first episode, and how much are you getting it script by script?

GILGUN: Well, it's a mixture of the two really. We hear bits and bobs. The thing is with Sam, he's like ... I think he's probably disturbed. But, his ideas they do change from place and place. He gives you a rough idea of where you're heading, so that you know what kind of things to expect. But, a lot of the time you will find out in the script.

For every single script he writes, he has a long conversation with some of the actors about we'll be getting into depending on the severity of the storyline. He's very open to suggestion and change. He's honestly, I've got to say actually working with Sam Catlin, you've got to be a lucky man to work with a man like that. I didn't realize how lucky I was, but he's so easy going and so open to collaboration ... I found in my short experience as an actor in the UK and out there in the States, I always find that the better writers are the ones that are relaxed and laid back and don't hold on.  And I think there's an element of asking to let go eventually and Sam's amazing at that. He just trust us now.

I think he's taken ... you need to be able to trust your cast and that takes tremendous courage with something that is your baby. So working with Sam is just fucking the best, so lucky. And just as dude as well, just as a man himself, he just handles it incredibly well. He's an inspiration to me. I really love him.

But, we do have discussions, especially on the build up to shooting. I was out there a little earlier with both Dom [Cooper] and Ruth [Negga] and we got to sit in a room and chat about where we want to go with this and where we want to take the characters. Before we even start there's always a long chat where we drink fucking English coffee. You know that kind of meeting … You know the meetings you imagine that that'd be happening before a show? Like you see directors just pacing around on the phone all the time, just out of their mind on caffeine, that kinda shit. All that's been going on man, it really does happen.

Completely.

ruth-negga-preacher-season-3
Image via AMC

GILGUN: You find yourself in it. We did a meeting once on I think it's season two. It was me, Seth [Rogen] and Evan [Goldberg] and Dom and Ruth. And we were all in this, and at one point Seth said. He said, "I imagine this is what people imagine it looks like. These kind of meetings." And we suddenly all realized that we were in one of those meetings, we'd finally done it. “We’re mostly doing alright, guys, we're mostly doing alright. We're in the meeting everyone imagines us to have."

What can you tease people about season three.

GILGUN: I know this is a fucking bullshit answer that actors give all the time and all that but dude honestly. I honestly think this is one of those seasons that gets better ... all of the best seasons are all like, they get better and better and better. There's a lot coming, there's a lot on its way and there's a lot of answers that people are looking for. But, fuck me standing man, it is a great season, this season. Some of the characters are fucking superb. How about like this? You wake up in the morning ... I don't know how much I can talk about really. So many people have seen walk past my trailer, dude. Really shocking characters, like really brought to life from the comic, genuinely you feel like you're in it. It's just incredible. And the sets again man. The fucking sets. Like the locations, it's like shooting a film in week sometimes. It's just incredible how we achieve it and just how beautiful it always ends up looking and how much time and money is spent on it. There's a lot to look forward to definitely. Definitely lots this year.

What do you think would surprise people about the making of Preacher?

GILGUN: About what the kind of antics that go on?

Just about the behind-the-scenes because I think a lot of the people don't realize the making of television is very long hours and it's not as glamorous, as I think people think.

ruth-negga-preacher-season-3
Image via AMC

GILGUN: Oh you're right. Absolutely not. I mean I cannot stress that enough. We've not got it cushy. We work fucking hard dude. Let me give you an example, right. We've started filming ... I can't remember when we started. We filmed right into the next day, the light came up, believe me. It was like seven o'clock, fucking birds were chirping. I killed a man in the nighttime, the second guy. It was still nighttime. I got to kill the fucking third guy and the sun's out and the birds are chirping.

I mean how the fuck we managed to do all of that scene, I have no idea. Cause we didn't have any reshoots on it, so they must have done something in Post. A lot of the time we're right to the wire. The director's given this virtually impossible schedule, everyone of them has to achieve. And they all achieve it, to the best of their ... I honestly think that they perform bloody miracles some of those directors. We're so lucky to have them. I think just as a unit as well. As a unit. It's just like this fucking circus, military-ran circus. And you end up so close, I mean leaving everyone behind in New Orleans this time around. People gong back to their homes, cameraman back to their families, you know, writing lads and lasses, costume, makeup, all them people that you just get intensely close to. We all suddenly have to leave each other.

I can't tell you how stressful and painful it is saying “bye.” It is like you're grieving, you're about to grieve. It's a very prolonged goodbye. It's never ... six months is half the fucking year, it's gone. They're all the people you know really cause all you ever really do is work and the hours are very, very long and arduous. So we work incredibly hard to achieve the results we get and we just hope that people enjoy it ‘cause Jesus Christ man, there's people ... I can't tell you. You've got a family and like children, there’s people at that job … there’s one woman I’m thinking of right now in particular, works the Prop department, who’s just been incredible this year. Not just dealing with the job, but in a family and like … we're all doing the same things and everyone's doing this it's not just this one woman. They’re literally, as far as I'm concerned, they're like the unsung heroes of Preacher, the crew. And we've been incredibly lucky to have the people we've had. I mean it's just been a fucking dream dude. I can't stress that enough.

One of the many things I love about the show is the way it blends, the twisted stuff with the violence and action and humor. What do you love most about the scripts and the story?

preacher-season-3-joseph-gilgun
Image via AMC

GILGUN: Oh shit dude. There's always something you don't see coming, as well. There's always something that you're like. There's always bit, every time I right it, yeah, it's like “are we fucking going to be able to put that on a TV at all? Surely they're not gonna let us do this?” And we always end up doing it. It's just fascinating. But I think more than anything, just watching the scene run the way it does is the most fascinating part of it. They always find a way, they always find a way. It's fucking incredible to watch man. When it comes to Preacher, when it comes to storyline and being on set, you’re never guaranteed … don't ever imagine it to be one way. It would never be the way, you would imagine it to be. It's always better man. It's always somehow better.

Last season ended with the death of Tulip. When you read that in the script or you hear it for the first time at the table read, are you puling Sam aside and saying, "She's gonna be okay right?"

GILGUN: No, I was praying she’d had died, but unfortunately she's been back for another fucking season. She's been a nightmare. In all honesty, those moments, they do scare you. You have those moments where you think are we about to lose our friend here. ‘Cause ultimately that's one of the big things with this job and the way ... It's very unlike other jobs in that sense, isn't it? No one's fully secured and ultimately, you'll miss them. You'll not just miss the person but you'll miss the character. I just think it does set you ... I mean I personally didn't worry about Ruth. You know Ruth and Tulip, the show has to have Tulip, like shit wouldn't be the same without Tulip, it just wouldn't. So I knew she'd have to survive somehow. And there were ideas floating around during season two of how they were ... They knew what they were gonna do. It was already set in stone, I think, that they were gonna go see Gran’ma. So I didn't worry too much. I was pretty confident that Ruth was gonna be okay but those kind of things do scare you as an actor especially when it's another cast member. I think it just reminds you of how fucking vulnerable the job is, how expendable you are as an actor sometimes, you know.

I'm already out of time with you. I'm just gonna say and I mean it sincerely, Preacher is one of my favorite shows. You guys do great work.

GILGUN: I really appreciate man, can tell you mean that. Its means a lot to me.

Cool have a great day. Can't wait to watch the rest of the season.

GILGUN: You too dude. Appreciate it man.

preacher-season-3-image
Image via AMC
preacher-season-3
Image via AMC
preacher-tv-show
Image via AMC