Flashback: Ten years of The Bible miniseries
Flashback: Ten years of The Bible miniseries
A look at the hit TV show produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and all the other Bible films and TV shows that they've produced since.
Before The Chosen, there was The Bible.
The ten-part miniseries—which spanned the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation—launched its first two episodes on the History Channel ten years ago today, and it was such a big, big smash hit that it led to spin-offs, sequels, and other projects that kept husband-and-wife producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey busy for years.
In a sense, they’re still busy. They’ve got a new film coming out next month: On a Wing and a Prayer, starring Dennis Quaid as a real-life airplane passenger who had to land his plane safely after the pilot died. It’s coming to Amazon Prime on Good Friday.
But for the first few years after The Bible came out, it seemed like Burnett and Downey were specifically busy making biblical movies and TV shows—all of which were part of a much larger flood of Bible-themed projects, some of which presumably got the go-ahead because the miniseries had proved that there was a market for them.
In hindsight, it seems clear that The Bible occupied a very particular place in the development of the biblical genre and the “faith-based” market as a whole—bridging the gap, as it were, between the big-screen, movie-star-driven success of The Passion of the Christ and the grassroots, fan-based, online success of The Chosen.
Mel Gibson’s death-of-Jesus movie came out nine years before The Bible, and it prompted a lot of interest in Bible-themed projects, but no one had quite figured out how to mimic its success. The Bible—which had some star power courtesy of producer/co-star Roma Downey, and which seemed to be consciously imitating The Passion in its depiction of Jesus’ death—proved that it was, in fact, possible for lightning to strike twice, and in doing so, it gave the genre a much-needed shot in the arm.
Burnett and Downey then went on to produce A.D. The Bible Continues, a series that mixed the book of Acts with secular history and fictitious political intrigue. It was cancelled by the network after just one season—but along the way, the producers engaged the fans and created a sprawling cast of characters, creating a very palpable sense of community both on the screen and in real life, all of which pre-figured the creation of The Chosen, a heavily fictionalized crowd-funded multi-season series about Jesus and the apostles that started streaming just a few years later.
So, anyway, now that The Bible’s tenth anniversary is here, I figured I’d round up some of the things I’ve written about the miniseries and its various follow-ups.
The Bible (2013)
The miniseries that started it all.
The series was aired in two-episode blocks on five consecutive Sunday nights. My first impressions: one-two | three-four | five-six | seven-eight | nine-ten.
My review of the miniseries for Books & Culture (April 12, 2013).
My article on The Bible and other biblical productions that were in the works back then for ChristianWeek (May 20, 2013).
My interview with Darwin Shaw, who played Simon Peter (February 24, 2014).
Posts in which I compared scenes from The Bible to other biblical films:
Abraham and the three visitors (November 5, 2013)
The publican and the Pharisee (February 9, 2014)
The Crucifixion (April 8, 2013)
The Ascension (May 29, 2014)
Saul’s road-to-Damascus experience (May 18, 2015)
The baptism of Cornelius (February 13, 2015)
A sampling of my other blog posts on the series:
‘Do Bible movies need to be “accurate” or “exciting”?’ (February 8, 2013)
‘The multiple appearances of Satan in The Bible’ (March 18, 2013)
‘An open letter to the makers of the next Bible series’ (April 11, 2013)
You can see more of my posts on the series via this tag.
The Women of the Bible (2014)
This TV special—which aired on the Lifetime network the same night as The Red Tent, an unrelated miniseries about the wives and daughter of Jacob—featured a deleted scene from The Bible that I don’t believe has ever been seen anywhere else.
My post on that scene, which focuses on Mary Magdalene (December 7, 2014).
Son of God (2014)
The Jesus episodes from The Bible were re-edited into this feature film, which played in theatres and grossed over $70 million worldwide.
My review of the film for the National Catholic Register (February 28, 2014).
My article on the Bible films of 2014—including Son of God, Noah, and Exodus: Gods & Kings—for The Anglican Planet (December 17, 2013).
My article on the Bible films of 2014 for Christianity Today (April 21, 2014).
I created a spreadsheet charting all the differences between The Bible and Son of God—scenes that were added, deleted, revised, and so on. You can access the spreadsheet here, and you can read my intro to the spreadsheet here.
A sampling of my other blog posts on the film:
‘The Garden of Eden gets cameos in Noah and Son of God’ (November 19, 2013)
‘Son of God: why is Jesus holding that stone in his hand?’ (February 7, 2014)
‘Church groups “taking over” theatres for Son of God’ (February 14, 2014)
‘Son of God producers cast Satan out of their film’ (February 17, 2014)
‘Is seeing a Bible movie on opening weekend more important than going to church? Is it a way of “honouring God”?’ (March 3, 2014)
You can see more of my posts on the film via this tag.
A.D. The Bible Continues (2015)
Burnett and Downey’s first major new project after The Bible was this NBC series that was based primarily on the book of Acts. It lasted twelve episodes.
My interview with Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (March 31, 2015).
My episode-by-episode analyses (with scripture index):
My interview with Chipo Chung, who played Mary Magdalene (June 12, 2015). Of all the interviews I’ve ever done, this is one of my favorites.
My interview with Juan Pablo di Pace, who played Jesus (November 2, 2015).
I wrote a blog post about a prayer—a modern composition—that was used in the series without attribution and has since been deleted from the DVD edition of the series. It is possible that the prayer would have stayed in the series if I had not written this post and brought the use of that prayer to the attention of its author.
Posts in which I compared scenes from A.D. The Bible Continues to other films:
The Crucifixion (April 8, 2013)
The Ascension (May 29, 2014)
The Jewish elder Gamaliel (August 3, 2015)
Saul’s road-to-Damascus experience (May 18, 2015)
Two excerpts from a 2021 essay in which I mentioned A.D. The Bible Continues:
A sampling of my other blog posts on the series:
‘Joanna gets a speaking role in Killing Jesus and A.D.’ (March 19, 2015)
‘What if A.D. The Bible Continues was a silent movie?’ (April 15, 2015)
‘Mary after the gospels: six movies’ (August 15, 2022)
You can see more of my posts on the series via this tag.
Ben-Hur (2016)
Burnett and Downey, who sold their production company to MGM in 2014-2015, also came on board as producers on MGM’s remake of the classic biblical epic.
My review of the film for my blog at Patheos (August 20, 2016).
Some notes on the Blu-ray bonus features (December 13, 2016).
My review of In the Name of Ben-Hur, a “mockbuster” that also came out in 2016 to capitalize on the hype around Ben-Hur (July 22, 2020).
A sampling of my other blog posts on the film:
‘Ben-Hur gets Mark Burnett, Roma Downey & a release date’ (April 25, 2014)
‘Pope Francis blesses the actor who is playing Jesus in Ben-Hur’ (April 15, 2015)
‘Timur Bekmambetov says his version of Ben-Hur will use “a very grounded style of filmmaking”’ (March 29, 2016)
‘Are the actors who play Jesus getting older?’ (May 10, 2016)
‘Christian violence and pacifism in three upcoming films’ (August 13, 2016)
‘Box office: Ben-Hur is one of the summer’s biggest flops’ (August 21, 2016)
‘Does the chariot-race sequence in Ben-Hur need dialogue?’ (January 3, 2017)
You can see more of my posts on the film via this tag.
Resurrection (2021)
Just as The Bible was re-edited into the feature-length Son of God, so too A.D. The Bible Continues was re-edited into this film, which came out on Discovery+.
My review of the film for my blog at Patheos (March 26, 2021).
A footnote on how the film added a “nude Jesus” shot to its Resurrection scene, similar to the “nude Jesus” shot in The Passion of the Christ (January 6, 2023).
You can see more of my posts on the film via this tag.
Redeeming Love (2022)
This one’s a bit different: Roma Downey was an executive producer on this adaptation of Francine Rivers’ romance novel, which reimagines the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer as a love story set during the Gold Rush in 19th-century California.
My review of the film for my blog at Patheos (January 22, 2022).
A sampling of my other blog posts on the film:
‘Watch: Redeeming Love gets a livestream and a brief teaser’ (July 12, 2020)
‘Hosea at the movies: three films from the early 21st century’ (January 19, 2022)
‘Box office: Redeeming Love opens small, but is the top new movie’ (January 23, 2022)
You can see more of my posts on the film via this tag.
And that’s it!
Incidentally, in the spring of 2021—while promoting Resurrection—Burnett and Downey both indicated that they had at least one more biblical project in the pipeline, though it was not clear to me if they were simply planning to repackage episodes from A.D. The Bible Continues that were not re-used in Resurrection, or if they were working on something entirely new. Either way, I have heard nothing about it since.
I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for it, though.