Watch: The official trailer for Gabriel and the Guardians
The anime-inspired series, based on the book of Genesis and other ancient texts, will premiere on the Angel Studios platform early next year.
Things have been a bit slow here lately as I juggle deadlines and other duties—sorry about that—but I wanted to give a quick heads-up regarding a trailer that went online today.
It’s for Gabriel and the Guardians, a sort of anime fantasy take on “the Book of Genesis and other ancient Mesopotamian texts” that is coming next year from Angel Studios, the streaming service behind such biblical ventures as His Only Son, Young David, and the upcoming modernized-book-of-Acts series Testament.
You can watch the trailer here:
This is how the trailer’s YouTube blurb describes the series:
Gabriel and the Guardians is an anime-inspired fantasy series—a reimagining of the Book of Genesis and other ancient Mesopotamian texts. When the Eternal Seed, a powerful artifact capable of reshaping creation, is stolen, Gabriel—a celestial guardian—is thrust into the dark realm of Ara to retrieve it. Joined by a giant hunter from Bekorah and a fierce alchemist princess from Qayinara, they must brave untold dangers, confront ancient evils, and unravel the secrets that could change their world forever. Along the way, these heroes will discover their true identities and eternal destinies. They will forge a path of light through the chaos in a saga of courage, hope, and adventure.
Given how controversial Darren Aronofsky’s Noah was—with its own mix of Genesis, ancient myths, and modern fantasy tropes—I am very curious to see what sort of reception this series gets.
On the one hand, I suspect there’s a not-insignificant overlap between the Angel Studios subscriber base and the demographic that rejected Aronofsky’s film for not being “biblically accurate”. On the other hand, this series was approved by “the Angel Guild”, and it was financed partly through crowd-funding.
So the series arguably comes pre-approved, as it were. Then again, we’ve seen other crowd-funded shows, like The Chosen, attract their fair share of controversy, so it’s possible that someone, somewhere, will object to this.
As ever, we shall see.
Me, I loved Aronofsky’s film, I’m intrigued by genre mash-ups, and I definitely want to see this series (even though I don’t know much about anime specifically).
Not gonna lie, though; I’m having a bit of a hard time wrapping my mind around the rather modern-looking hat worn by this particular character—it doesn’t exactly scream “primeval history” or “Mesopotamian mythology” to me—but maybe that’s one of those things that would make more sense to me if I were into anime:
Here is one other screen capture, of Nok the giant-killer, who is clearly being set up as one of the series’ major characters:
The trailer also reveals that the series has a release date: February 12, 2025—so, it’s time to update the list of Bible-themed movies and TV shows that have already been at least partially filmed and are due to come out in the next year or so.
Here’s the list (all dates subject to change):
December 6, 2024 — Mary (streaming: Netflix)
February 12, 2025 — Gabriel and the Guardians (streaming: Angel Studios)
March 2025 — The Last Supper (theatrical: Pinnacle Peak)
March 27, 2025 — The Chosen: Last Supper (theatrical: Fathom Events)
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) — House of David (streaming: Prime Video)
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.