‘Of Kings and Prophets’: Biblical Tale Gets a Dramatic Do-Over

Last updated on: July 11, 2015 at 6:00 am by Kate O'Hare

‘Of Kings and Prophets’: Biblical Tale Gets a Dramatic Do-Over 2015-07-10T22:01:28-08:00 Kate O'Hare

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Already pulled from ABC’s fall schedule in early June, after a mixed reaction from advertisers, the Old Testament drama “Of Kings and Prophets” is getting a thorough revamp.

Based on the Book of Samuel, it follows the inevitable clash of Israel’s King Saul and the young shepherd David. One hesitates to say much more about it, since no footage from the original pilot will survive. There have also been new casting announcements, including Jeanine Mason as Saul’s daughter, and Nathaniel Parker (“Wolf Hall”) replacing Mark Ivanir as King Achish, a rival of Saul (Ray Winstone).

Per a story at Deadline.com, executive producer Chris Brancato has rewritten the pilot, with the help of original writers Adam Cooper & Bill Collage, along with staff writers. Brancato is an interesting choice for this story, since much of his background has been in crime drama, most recently NBC’s “Hannibal,” and the upcoming Netflix drug-cartel drama “Narcos,” which he left for “Of Kings and Prophets.”

A new director, Michael Offer, has been brought on to shoot the reworked pilot.

Of Kings And Prophets is described as an epic Biblical saga of faith, ambition and betrayal as told through the eyes of a battle-weary king, a powerful and resentful prophet and a resourceful young shepherd on a collision course with destiny. ... Originally picked up for a fall launch on Sunday, Of Kings And Prophets was recently pushed to midseason.

Along with Winstone, the ABC Website lists cast members Haaz Sleiman (an Arab actor recently seen as in the title role of NatGeo’s “Killing Jesus”), Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Oliver Rix, Simone Kessell, James Floyd, Mohammad Bakri and Tomer Kapon.

Also expected for ABC’s midseason is the sitcom “The Real O’Neals,” which features a harsh caricature of a Catholic family (more on that shortly), so it’s hard to have any confidence about how the network will handle a faith-based drama.

It also doesn’t help that Cooper and Collage were two of the writers of director Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” which made a complete hash of the Book of Exodus (and seemed scared to death of actually including the Biblical God in a Biblical story, opting instead to portray Him as a petulant 11-year-old boy).

But, Brancato is a good writer, and he’s the one at the helm, so we’ll just have to see — if this one actually makes it on the air, that is.

For what it’s worth at this point, here’s the original trailer, which, unsurprisingly, isn’t very promising:

Image: Courtesy ABC

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