Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, executive producers and directors of AMC's Preacher discuss making Season 2 even crazier, bringing the show closer to the comic and the energy of shooting the new season in New Orleans.

Q: Season 1 was sort of a prequel to the comic. How does it feel to really be diving into the storyline you love so much in Season 2?

Evan Goldberg: It’s super exciting and it's a tonal shift that is really energizing. We have a lot more action, and it's a fun way to kick off the second season.

Seth Rogen: It’s nice to have all the characters together. The first season, we kind of kept them separated and were building up their backstories. Now, to have them all on the same mission and physically in the same place is very exciting. I think it adds a lot to the show.

Q:  How are you using what you learned making Season 1 to expand/deepen the show in Season 2?

SR: One thing we found was that the big swings we took that we weren’t sure would work really tended to work and people really seemed to like it. When we looked at the show, we really liked those moments and we think those were the moments that really carved out our show as truly unique. There’s so much stuff on television, and we put a lot of thought and conversation into really trying to double down on the fact that we had a show that could handle a lot of incredibly original ideas and that we should really try to deliver as many of them as we could.

Q:  You guys once again directed the first two episodes of this season. How do you think your episodes set the tone for the season to follow?

EG: When we went out to New Orleans, it was important to work with the new crew to set the same kind of tone on set -- the work and fun that the crew is having, that’s appearing on-screen. We have several different tonal shifts in this season, so it was really fun to set a start point, but it’s going to have a big evolution over the course of the season.

SR: The good thing about the show, honestly, is that there’s not a template for it. We really encourage the directors to try different things. We have certain aesthetics that we try to maintain throughout the show, but we want what the show looks like to be as much a part of the exciting, unpredictable element of [the show] as what the story is – as long as it supports the story. I think a lot of shows fall under the same look, and we don’t tell our directors that every scene has to have a master and a two shot and a single. We really say, “Try to be creative and think of exciting ways to bring this to life.”

Q: What was it like shooting in New Orleans as opposed to Albuquerque? What did the new location add to the story?

EG: It’s one of the most fun places in the world and, to me, the most fun place in America. Sadly, for us, most of our story doesn’t take place in New Orleans. Cinematically, we had to make New Orleans not look like New Orleans, but being there was thrilling. The story's gotten a lot more on track with the comic, and the comic has a huge road trip element that takes place in New Orleans. So I think the fans know that how we ended the first season implies that we’re getting into a lot of the comic elements more and expanding the whole universe. Everything was smaller in Texas. We were in a small town, there were a small amount of people, small sets and areas, small streets. Now we’re in a crazy, giant city with people walking around, so it’s a whole new ball game.

Q: How does taking the action on the road impact the storytelling?

SR: I think the first season is very much about how the characters are stuck in this town, so as soon as they’re moving, I think the show takes on a completely different feel. There are certain kinds of expectations that are nice to play off of on a road trip, and when there’s someone on your tail chasing you, it helps the road trip idea, which is certainly the case with them.

Q: What are you most excited for fans to see in Season 2?

SR: We introduce the Grail in this season, which for us is one of our favorite elements of the comic. It’s a super secret organization bent on world domination that starts to work its way into the story. [Laughs]

EG: My favorite is always the Saint of Killers, but there are a few new characters that have been created that I think are incredible and I’m excited for fans to discover. It’s always cool to do stuff from the comic – and we’re doing a lot more of that now – but they created some pretty wild things in that writers' room. 

Read a Q&A with executive producer Garth Ennis.

Preacher premieres Sunday, June 25 at 10/9c.  Watch the Season 2 trailer and check out first-look photos from the new season. To stay up-to-date on all the latest news, sign up for the Preacher Insiders Club.