Mark Steven Johnson has told Comics Continuum that his attempts to bring Garth Ennis’ Preacher to HBO as a series were close but ultimately unsuccessful.

“We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going,” Johnson told The Continuum.

“It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I’ve learned my lesson on that front and I won’t do it again. So I’m afraid it’s dead at HBO.”

“I’ve heard someone is in the process of getting the rights to turn it into a feature film. I hope that happens. But I hope it happens as a series of movies as one movie couldn’t do it justice. I really love that story and I dedicated a lot of my time to honor Garth’s work. But it wasn’t meant to be.”

This news sucks, Preacher is thought of by many to be one of the greatest comic book series’ ever, and I was looking forward to this tv adaptation.

Johnson is currently in post-production on When in Rome — a comedy starrring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Dax Shephard, Jon Heder and Angelica Huston.