Netflix Developing ‘Messiah’ Biblical Drama With Mark Burnett and Roma Downey

Last updated on: March 23, 2017 at 3:07 pm by Kate O'Hare

Netflix Developing ‘Messiah’ Biblical Drama With Mark Burnett and Roma Downey 2017-03-23T15:07:31-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey may have launched a faith-friendly channel of their own, called Light TV, but they’re still actively looking to produce for other outlets — such as Netflix.

Burnett and Downey — the husband-and-wife producing duo behind “The Bible,” “Son of God,” “Dovekeepers,” “A.D.: The Bible Continues” and more — are bringing the streaming service a modern-day biblical drama called “Messiah.”

The scripted series looks at how modern society and media react when a man appears in the Middle East and begins to apparently do miracles.

Unlike many of Burnett and Downey’s Biblical productions, which mostly shot in Morocco, this could be a home-grown production.

From a report in The Hollywood Reporter:

The scripted drama, which is in early development, has already been pre-approved for a California Film Commission tax credit, though it’s considered unlikely to use that given Messiah‘s early timing. Sources tell THR that the drama is in early development and not fully baked as a script still needs to be written.

Messiah is created by Michael Petroni, whose credits include co-creating ABC’s short-lived drama Miracles — a drama starring Skeet Ulrich that was described as a “spiritual version of The X-Files. Petroni exec produces alongside Burnett, Downey and Andrew Deane. The drama is being produced in-house at Netflix. MGM Television, where Burnett serves as president, is not attached.

The streamer does not operate under the traditional development process of script to pilot to series, instead opting to go direct to series on fully formed ideas. That is still the case, despite Messiah‘s early development status as it is still being eyed as a standard straight-to-series order at Netflix. The drama was pre-emptively submitted for a tax credit and in the event that scripts are completed on time, it would film in Los Angeles.

More news as I have it.

Image: Courtesy LightWorkers Media

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog.

Previous Post

March 21, 2017

'Church Hunters' Parody Is Too True -- What Would a Catholic One Look Like?

Next Post

March 27, 2017 'Church Hunters' Episode 2: Oh, No, She 'Grew Up Catholic'!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz