As the Son of God DVD hits Australian shores this month, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, creators of the film and the Bible TV series that came before, are preparing for a new wave of Bible stories made for the small screen.
A 12-episode sequel to The Bible TV will be screened in the US over Easter next year, chronicling events from the Book of Acts. It’s called A.D. Beyond the Bible.
The final episode of the 10-part The Bible series covered “30 years in 50 minutes” said John Dickson in his analysis of the episode at the time, as producers attempted to convey the way Christianity went into the world. A.D. Beyond the Bible will give almost 12 hours to that material.
The Bible TV series was hugely popular in the US, attracting over 14 million viewers when the premiere episode screened in 2013. In Australia, the series was aired on Channel 9 in prime-time but was quickly pushed into a late evening timeslot. There’s no word yet as to whether the A.D. sequel will air in Australia.
The new A.D. series will feature Australian actor Greta Scacchi (Looking for Alibrandi, Broken Trail) as Mary, mother of Jesus. Argentian actor Juan Pablo Di Pace will play Jesus.
“It really is a story of, how did twelve Apostles change Rome? It started when Jesus sent them on the Great Commission, right? Through faith and the Holy Spirit, in the most unlikely of times, with the most brutal regimes going on, it all came to be,” said producer Mark Burnett about the series at the beginning of this year.
Watch the trailer for A.D. Beyond the Bible here:
This month, Burnett and Downey have also produced a special two-hour TV episode called The Women of the Bible, telling the stories of Eve, Sara, Rahab, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus. It featured interviews with living women of faith, including Australia’s Christine Caine who leads The A21 Campaign working to end human trafficking and connected to Hillsong.
Women of the Bible aired this week in the US as a lead up to The Red Tent, a US miniseries on the life of Dinah from the Bible. The miniseries is based on a bestselling novel also called The Red Tent, and stars Rebecca Ferguson, Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) and Morena Baccarin (Homeland, Gotham). There is no indication that The Red Tent or Women of the Bible will make it to Australian screens, but both will no doubt be available to purchase online.
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