‘AD: The Bible Continues’ preview: Mark Burnett, casting changes
Debuting appropriately on Easter Sunday on NBC, the latest Bible-based epic from Mark Burnett and Roma Downey A.D. The Bible Continues, will face a very busy April 5 with the return of Mad Men on AMC, the debut of Wolf Hall on PBS and the premiere of its own lead-out American Odyssey, and of course ABC’s annual broadcast of The Ten Commandments and replay of Nat Geo’s Killing Jesus.
“Roma and I are grateful to be able to spread the Word,” Burnett writes in a new op-ed about the project, his faith and Christianity in general.
The 12-part A.D. The Bible Continues promises to be complex series that can more than hold its own on the big network, NBC, coming over after The Bible broke records over on the History Channel.
Dallas star Juan Pablo Di Pace takes over as Jesus from The Bible’s Diogo Morgado as the story promises to follow the disciples unite and expand the gospel. Then Paul is converted and begins church planting.
The casting may surprise audiences with blacks Babou Alieu Ceesay and Chipo Chung as John and Mary Magdalene while Jesus, Peter (Adam Levy), Pilate (Vincent Regan), and almost everyone else is white.
“The Christian community is a very broad audience, not a narrow one, and the core values of this enormous community are centered around Jesus, whose story they are hungry to see told on TV and in films. We have seen this hunger for Christian content again and again as we have traveled around our nation sharing our new NBC series A.D.: The Bible Continues,” Burnett says.
Check it out Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on NBC
