Preacher is a series full of colorful characters, but actor Joseph Gilgun is playing perhaps the most unique and memorable. His character, Cassidy, is a century-old Irish vampire who happens to run into Jesse Custer and Tulip while passing through Texas.
When Cassidy was first created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon in the 1990s, vampires were still a fixture of niche horror. Meanwhile, AMC’s Preacher TV series is debuting in a post Twilight world, where the vampiric image has been significantly softened. We asked Gilgun if he’s considered that fact at all while preparing his performance.
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Turns out, not so much.
“No,” Gilgun bluntly says. “I don’t think about anything at all. I just do. It’s very dangerous for me to think. Last time I had a think I had a mental fucking breakdown. I just avoid that shit all together if I can.”
Gilgun’s co-star Ruth Negga chimes in that being a vampire “isn’t the most important thing about Cassidy.” Gilgun agrees.
“I think in the comic he is a bad ass. He’s super bad ass,” Gilgun explains. “The reality of it is that he’s been alive for 119 years. I’m 32 years old. He’s got another 200 years in him. All anyone’s done until now is fuck off and leave him. He might have died. Eventually he’s doing that thing where he’s started to self-sabotage. I don’t know a soul on earth who hasn’t done that. Only Cassidy, with no support and no one around him, just escalates. This is how it works with substance abusers.
“I think he’s lonely,” Gilgun continues. “He’s this jovial character in the comic. He has moments where he can be a bit of a hero. He adores Tulip. The reality of it, of a human being and not a cartoon or a picture in a book, a human being would have serious trauma from that kind of a lifestyle.He’s come out of the other end.
“Ruth is right. For the TV show, it’s not just about a man who is a vampire. It’s about this guy who’s 119 and still trying to work sh*t out and deal with it. I think, as the story progresses, the arc of what Sammy [Catlin] and the boys have been doing, I think for me, playing Cassidy, the one shocking thing I’ve found that I wasn’t expecting is absolutely the emotional aspect.”
Gilgun is quick to add that the emotional aspect of playing Cassidy doesn’t make the character any less of a badass.
“I’ve not made him a p*ssy. He’s hard as nails. The guy’s not to be f**ked with. He’s a complete sociopath like the rest of them. That sh*t comes as a cost. It’s his mental health.”
Preacher premieres Sunday, May 22 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
