Why Preacher Ended With Season 4: Was It Canceled?

Much to the dismay of its many invested fans, Preacher ended after season 4, but there’s a good reason why. The AMC+ series was a supernatural action-fantasy narrative that followed a man who works with a vampire and his ex in order to search for God following a mysterious event. Preacher boasts a great cast, including Dominic Cooper, Joe Gilgun, Ruth Negga, Ian Colletti, Graham McTavish, Pip Torrens, and Noah Taylor. It is based on the graphic novel by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and developed for the screen by Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen.

Preacher was well-received during its seasons on air, making it surprising that the show ended after just 4 seasons. Lower reviews over time may have been partially at fault, as Preacher went from a series-high 92% Tomatometer in season 3 to a series-low score of 77% in the final season. There have been speculations that this drop or potential budget cuts might be an explanation someone would point to for the reason that Preacher concluded. That said, why Preacher ultimately ended was for a different reason entirely.

Preacher Ended On Its Own Terms (It Wasn’t Canceled)

Executive Producer Seth Rogen Confirmed This

Even though it ended after being well-regarded, Preacher was not canceled. Instead, the show willingly wrapped up its run, coming to a close on its own terms. This was confirmed by Rogen in April 2019, just after Preacher season 4 was confirmed to be its final season. Rogen wrote simply that “It’s not cancelled. It’s just ending,” on his personal X (then Twitter) account.

Rogen’s need to post this clarification likely stemmed from the widespread rumor that Preacher was canceled. This is an understandable misunderstanding for audiences to have, as many shows end due to a network re-shuffling their projects due to various business reasons. To make matters more confusing, Preacher struggled with viewership in its final seasons. While seasons 1 and 2 managed to cross the 1 million viewer mark for all their episodes, season 3 failed to surpass this milestone for all but their finale. Despite this performance, Preacher was not canceled but ended when it chose to.

Why Preacher Season 5 Wouldn’t Have Worked

Preacher Came To A Natural Conclusion

Though Preacher could have chosen to go on for longer, Preacher likely ended at the right time. After all, the Preacher season 4 finale saw the wrapping of multiple arcs, even showing Jesse and Tulip’s natural deaths 40 years in the future. Preacher also strayed significantly from the comic series on which it was based, so making more seasons would only have further divorced it from its source material. As a result, extending Preacher to season 5 may have spread things too thin, thus justifying the show’s season 4 ending.

Source: Seth Rogen/X