Newsbites: The Faithful! Judas' Gospel! Light of the World!
Minnie Driver returns to the book of Genesis; a movie about Judas gets a trailer before its world premiere at Locarno next month; and the next major animated Jesus movie releases a making-of video.
The Faithful finds its Sarah, Abraham, and Hagar
Looks like Minnie Driver is returning to the book of Genesis.
The actress, who played Jacob’s first wife Leah in The Red Tent eleven years ago, is now set to play Abraham’s first wife Sarah—the grandmother of Jacob—in the first episode of The Faithful, a three-part series about the women of Genesis that is coming to the Fox network next year.
Abraham is being played by Jeffrey Donovan (best known perhaps for Burn Notice, he also played a key antagonist in Season 2 of Fargo, i.e. the best season of Fargo), and Sarah’s handmaid Hagar—who becomes Abraham’s concubine and the mother of his first son Ishmael—will be played by Natacha Karam. Donovan and Karam are both new to the Bible-movie genre, as far as I know.
This is the episode’s official description, per Variety:
Sarah feels incomplete without the child that has been promised to her and her husband, Abraham, by God. After braving isolation, famine, the ire of Pharaoh, and several more years of barrenness, she resorts to her own plan to bring a child into the world involving her maidservant Hagar (Karam) and Abraham. However, jealousy soon sets in after Hagar gives birth to Ishmael (from whose lineage the Islamic religion traces its roots). Then a miracle happens… And personal freedoms are at odds with long-held grievances and shattered love.
The series also has specific release dates now: The first episode—the one with Sarah and Hagar—will air March 22, 2026, while the other two, one of which is about Rebekah (Isaac’s wife) and the other of which is about Leah and Rachel (Jacob’s wives), will air on March 29 (Palm Sunday) and April 5 (Easter Sunday).
Each installment will be two hours—basically the length of a movie.
The first episode was written by Rene Echevarria (Carnival Row) and is being directed and executive-produced by Danny Cannon (whose credits include a lot of TV, as well as films like 1995’s Judge Dredd and 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer). It will be filmed in Rome and Matera, Italy—just like a lot of other Bible films.
There are no details yet about the cast and crew on the other two episodes, but I’ll be sure to pass that info along whenever it becomes available.
Judas’ Gospel to premiere at Locarno next month
The other day, I noticed that Judas’ Gospel—a seemingly revisionist take on the story of Jesus and Judas—appears to have a release date in Mexico next month, and I wondered if we might see a trailer for the film soon.
That trailer is now here, courtesy of the website for the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where the film will have its world premiere August 11.
The trailer confirms earlier reports that the film will depict Judas as someone who was born and raised in a brothel, and as someone who feels a particular bond to Jesus, however dysfunctional it might be (“Of all twelve of [the disciples], I am the only one who dies with him. They called me traitor, but I am the betrayed one”).
The trailer also makes a point of not revealing the adult Judas’s face. Judas, in his narration of the trailer, even says, “At forty years old I practiced every vice and showed my face to almost no one.” So it would appear his face is hidden not just from the viewer, but from most of the other characters.
Will his face be seen in the film at all? The film’s IMDb page currently doesn’t list any actor for Judas, and the film’s page at the Locarno website seems to indicate that different actors’ voices will be heard in different versions of the film (Giancarlo Giannini in the Italian version, Lambert Wilson in the French version), so it’s possible that we’ll only hear the adult version of the character, not see him.
If so, that would be an interesting reversal of the trend in, say, the Bible films of the 1950s, which kept the face of Jesus hidden while showing us everyone else’s.
According to the IMDb, the film will play in Mexico three days after it premieres at Locarno. I do not yet know of any other release dates. Stay tuned.
New video on designing Jesus and other characters in Light of the World
The makers of Light of the World have released a new video on how they designed the characters—and particularly Jesus—in their animated film.
You can watch the video above. The film comes to theatres September 5.
Previous videos for Light of the World:
The ‘The Heart of Light of the World’ video (October 26, 2024)
The teaser (November 12, 2024)
The clip of Mary talking to John about Jesus’ birth (December 20, 2024)
The children’s-ministry curriculum video (February 10, 2025)
The ‘What Is Truth?’ clip and the ‘Launch Team Introduction’ video (March 26, 2025)
The trailer (April 10, 2025)
The ‘Jesus Heals Mary Magdalene’ clip (May 21, 2025)
The Shane & Shane music video (May 30, 2025)
The ‘The Disciples Meet’ clip and the 60-second trailer (June 16, 2025)
More information about Light of the World is available at LightoftheWorld.com.
Upcoming Bible movies and TV shows:
now-July 21, 2025 — Testament: Season 1 (streaming: Angel Studios, with episodes streaming on YouTube and Facebook one week after their Angel debut)
now-July 27, 2025 — The Chosen: Season 5 (streaming: Prime Video - international)
August 11, 2025 — Judas’ Gospel (theatrical: Locarno Film Festival)
September 5, 2025 — Light of the World (theatrical: Salvation Poem Project)
September 26, 2025 — Ruth & Boaz (streaming: Netflix)
Fall 2025 — House of David: Season 2 (streaming: Prime Video - Wonder Project)
November 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 1 (streaming: Fox Nation)
December 19, 2025 — Zero A.D. (theatrical: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — The Carpenter’s Son (theatrical: Magnolia)
2025 (no month specified) — The Chosen Adventures (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — The Promised Land: Season 1 (streaming)
March 22-April 5, 2026 — The Faithful (television: Fox)
April-May 2026 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 2 (streaming: Fox Nation)
second half of 2026 — The Chosen: Season 6: Episodes 1-6 (streaming: Prime Video)
March 12, 2027 — The Chosen: Season 6: Finale (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
March 31, 2028 — The Chosen: Season 7: Premiere (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
no release date specified — David (theatrical)
no release date specified — Jacob (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — Joseph of Egypt (streaming: Prime Video)
no release date specified — The Resurrection of the Christ (theatrical: Lionsgate)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)