Testament – the modernized book of Acts announces its cast
The series started shooting in the UK in January.
Sometimes it feels like there’s so much Bible-movie news to cover I’ll never keep up with it all. In the past few months alone I’ve written quite a bit about Journey to Bethlehem, The Book of Clarence, The Prince of Egypt: The Musical, Young David, The Shift and, of course, The Chosen. And those are just the actual films that have come out.
Then there are all the projects that have simply been announced, like House of David, David: A King’s Calling, Celestials, and the Scorsese Jesus movie.
And then there’s Testament, a series that started shooting in the UK a few weeks ago—so it’s past the announcement stage, but nowhere close to coming out yet.
The series, which will set the book of Acts in an alternate version of the present day, has been in the works for a while. It started as a feature film in which the apostles, living sometime after the Resurrection, tell each other the parables of Jesus.
The film was produced independently, but it was picked up by Angel Studios, which started streaming it in 2022—and by that time, the studio had started to drum up interest in a potential series, using the same crowd-funding mechanism it had used to produce The Chosen’s first seasons and to promote films like His Only Son.
Now, that series is finally being made. And yesterday, Angel Studios sent out a press release announcing the show’s cast, while writer-director Paul Syrstad hosted a livestream to talk about the series and give us a peek behind the scenes.
The livestream and the full press release are below, but I wanted to highlight a few things.
First, there are two actors in the series who have significant Bible-movie experience:
Stewart Scudamore played Judah in In the Beginning (2000), James in Bible Mysteries (2004), Simeon in The Nativity Story (2006), Ramesses in The Bible (2013), King Hamor in The Red Tent (2014), and Peter in Risen (2016).
Gary Oliver played Abraham in The Bible (2013) and Herod in Jesus: His Life (2014).
The series also has an actor who has been in one or two projects that are not exactly biblical, but are kinda sorta Bible-adjacent:
Mido Hamada played Eleazar Ben Ya’ir, the leader of the Jewish rebels at Masada, in The Dovekeepers (2015); he also recently played the Persian king Darius (who is not the biblical Darius!) in Alexander: The Making of a God (2024).
There is also one actor in the series—and only one, apparently—who was also in the Testament movie:
Kenneth Omole played John Mark in Testament: The Parables Retold (2022).
It is not clear whether Omole, who co-wrote the Testament series with Paul and Faith Syrstad, will be playing John Mark again. Yesterday’s press release lists over a dozen actors in the series, but it doesn’t say who any of them are playing.
However, the livestream yesterday revealed who some of the actors are playing, and it also featured a soundbite from an actor who isn’t even mentioned in the press release.
So, here’s what I’ve gleaned from the press release and the livestream combined:
Actors with identified roles:
Gary Oliver — Caiaphas
Tom Simper — Simon Peter
Eben Figueiredo — Saul of Tarsus
Charlie Beaven — Stephen
John Omole — James Zebedee
Aadar Malik — Philip
Jordan Daws — Matthew Levi
Bobbie Little — Susanna
Solomon Israel — Minister Ananias
Mido Hamada — Captain
Actors whose roles are not yet identified (unless I missed something):
Stewart Scudamore
Lizzie Hopley
Mogali Masuku
Kenneth Omole
Yasmin Paige
Incidentally, the fact that Gary Oliver played one of the Herods in Jesus: His Life and is now playing Caiaphas in Testament makes me wonder how many other actors have played both roles onscreen. I can think of actors who have played Pilate and Caiaphas—e.g. Basil Rathbone in 1935’s The Last Days of Pompeii and 1962’s Pontius Pilate, or Ben Daniels in 2008’s The Passion and 2018’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert—but I can’t think offhand of anyone who has played both Herod and Caiaphas.
Anyhoo, here’s the press release:
TESTAMENT - A New Multi-Season Series Based on the Book of Acts - Begins Production and Announces Cast
The Angel Studios Original Series Explores a Historical Story with a Modern Twist
(Provo, UT—February 15, 2024) Angel Studios is announcing the cast for the upcoming UK TV series Testament. Directed by Paul Syrstad, produced by Jackie Sheppard (ESCAPE FROM PRETORIA), and written by Paul Syrstad, Faith Syrstad and Kenneth Omole, the series takes place in a reimagined modern world centered around the events described in the biblical book of Acts.
Produced by Roarlight, Testament boasts a robust and talented ensemble cast, including Eben Figueiredo (SOLO: A Star Wars Story, The Serial Killer’s Wife), Charlie Beaven (The Crown), Yasmin Paige (Submarine), Stewart Scudamore (Risen, Carnival Row), Mogali Masuku (The Gold), Tom Simper (EastEnders), Kenneth Omole (Top Boy, The Parables Retold), John Omole (Chewing Gum), Aadar Malik (Modern Love Mumbai), and Bobbie Little (DOCTOR STRANGE in the MULTIVERSE of MADNESS), Gary Oliver (Game of Thrones, The Bible), Mido Hamada (American Sniper), Solomon Israel (Doctor Who), and Lizzie Hopley (The Crown, Time).
In the early stages of its production, the series is already amassing an enthusiastic fanbase. In 2022, a film of the same name was released (TESTAMENT: The Parables Retold) and, due to the movie’s response and acclaim, Roarlight entered a distribution partnership with Angel Studios for the multi-season show.
Episode One follows the tumultuous journey of biblical heroes as they establish the early Christian church, just 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And here is yesterday’s livestream:
You can find more behind-the-scenes videos here.