Watch: A clip from Light of the World, and FK&C covers U2 for the House of David soundtrack album
The animated film and the live-action series are both coming out in 2025.
There are a lot of Bible-themed projects coming to theatres and streaming next year, and this week we got sneak peeks at two of them.
First, for Christmas, there is this clip from Light of the World, in which Mary tells the young disciple John the story of Jesus’ birth:
There are a few interesting things about this clip:
First, the relationship between John and Mary: John’s gospel says Mary eventually lived with “the beloved disciple”, who is traditionally believed to be John (John 19:25-27), so it makes sense to show them getting to know each other before that point… but I wonder if this John could have looked after her like Jesus asked him to. He’s so young! (“From that time on, this disciple took her into his home,” says the text. But the John of this film is probably still living with his parents.)1
Second, the Christmas story: It’s fascinating that Mary tells John the story of Jesus’ birth in this scene, as John’s gospel itself never tells that story; all the details that Mary gets into here are from Matthew and Luke (and from later tradition!—the Mary of the film says Jesus was born “in a stable”, but the gospels themselves don’t say that). If Mary lived with John, then he surely must have known this story; he just didn’t tell it for some reason.
Third, Mary’s age: The crow’s feet—the wrinkles around Mary’s eyes—draw just a wee bit of attention to the fact that she is middle-aged. I can think of a lot of animated films that depict the younger Mary (Christmas films and the like), but I can’t think of all that many that depict the older Mary, let alone films that acknowledge her age through character design. (The older, stop-motion Mary in The Miracle Maker might have a few hints of grey in her hair, but they’re not very pronounced; I didn’t really notice them until I went looking for signs of her age just now.)2 It’s worth noting that there is a tradition of depicting Mary as younger-looking, even in her older age; it’s been reflected in films as different as Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings, in which Mary was played by a woman in her 20s while Jesus was played by a man in his 50s, and Roberto Rossellini’s The Messiah, in which Mary was played by a teenager throughout. The existence of that tradition is one reason this film’s explicit nod to Mary’s age—the fact that the animators took the time to draw those extra lines—caught my eye.
Light of the World is coming to theatres September 5. You can watch the trailer here.
Meanwhile, the people behind House of David, the upcoming Prime Video series about King Saul and David, revealed that the Christian pop duo For King + Country are recording a new version of U2’s ‘40’ for the soundtrack to that series.
The U2 song was based on Psalm 40, which the Bible says was written by David, so there’s an obvious connection to the series there.
It is not clear whether the song will appear in the series itself (perhaps as an end-credits track?) or simply on a “music inspired by” various-artists album like the ones that 1998’s The Prince of Egypt and 1999’s The Bible Collection: Jesus got.
It is also not clear whether the song has already been recorded or is going to be soon, but either way, For King + Country is performing it every night at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville this week, and they plan to release the single early next year to help promote the soundtrack album, which in turn will help promote the series.
A very brief clip of one of the live performances—a sort of promo for the promo for the promo—was released this week:
In the meantime, you can hear the original U2 version of the song here:
Or, if you want to compare U2’s live performance of the song to For King + Country’s:
(It just occurred to me: the song called ‘40’ is now just over 40 years old.)
House of David is not the first biblical drama that For King + Country has been associated with, of course. They’ve been part of at least one of The Chosen’s Christmas-music specials, and Joel Smallbone—one half of the duo—played Xerxes in 2013’s The Book of Esther and Herod’s son Antipater in 2023’s Journey to Bethlehem.
Smallbone’s wife Moriah also appeared in Journey to Bethlehem as one of Mary’s sisters, and she has also played Bathsheba, one of David’s wives, in a couple episodes of The Chosen—so she has an even closer on-screen tie to the David story.
The single and the soundtrack don’t have release dates yet, but they’ll presumably be out before the series, which will start streaming its first three episodes on February 27. The next five episodes will come out weekly until April 3.
To recap, here are all the Bible-themed films and shows that have already been at least partially filmed and are due to come out next year (all dates subject to change):
February 12, 2025 — Gabriel and the Guardians (streaming: Angel Studios)
February 27, 2025 — House of David (streaming: Prime Video)
March 2025 — The Last Supper (theatrical: Pinnacle Peak)
March 27, 2025 — The Chosen: Last Supper (theatrical: Fathom Entertainment)
April 11, 2025 — The King of Kings (theatrical: Angel Studios)
April-May 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints part 2 (includes episode on Mary Magdalene; streaming: Fox Nation)
September 5, 2025 — Light of the World (theatrical: Salvation Poem Project)
November 21, 2025 — David (theatrical: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — The Chosen Adventures (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — Testament (streaming: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — The Promised Land season 1 (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — Bethlehem (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — The Carpenter’s Son (theatrical…?)
no release date specified — Judas’ Gospel (theatrical…?)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)
Did I forget any films or shows? If so, please let me know, and I’ll add ’em to the list.
On that note: last summer, the film’s website had a bit of concept art that showed Jesus with John and members of John’s family, including his parents Zebedee and Salome.
This is how Mary looks in The Miracle Maker:
