NBC has leapfrogged History to snag “A.D.: Beyond the Bible,” Mark Burnett’s follow-up to his spring miniseries smash “The Bible.”
The press release announcing the project offered very few timetable specifics on “A.D.: Beyond the Bible,” but boy oh boy did the involved parties have blurbs.
“I followed the development process of ‘The Bible’ closely with Mark and knew that the story was far from over after Christ’s Crucifixion,” states NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt. “In fact, what happened in the aftermath — which is essentially the beginning of Christianity – is utterly fascinating. The day after ‘The Bible’ premiered, I told Mark we were on board with no hesitation for the follow-up miniseries. This will be attention-getting in every way, and we”re proud to continue our association with Mark which has just grown exponentially from ‘The Voice.'”
Adds NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke, “NBC is thrilled to bring this highly-anticipated sequel to Mark and Roma”s ‘The Bible’ to network television. There was huge interest in this project within the television community and NBC is gratified by Mark”s confidence in our ability to partner with him and position this miniseries as true event television.”
“A.D.: Beyond the Bible” will pick up in the immediate aftermath of History’s “The Bible,” presumably resolving myriad cliffhangers in the story of the Holy Land under Roman rule and whatnot. Once again, the miniseries will be produced by Burnett and Roma Downey’s LightWorkers Media, with Hearst Productions and Universal Television.
“We are thrilled to be working with Bob, Jen and Quinn Taylor to bring the follow-up to our hit cable series ‘The Bible” to broadcast television with NBC,” blurb Burnett and Downey. “Our new series, ‘A.D.: Beyond the Bible,’ is another massive project and a major commitment, but it”s a story that has to be told. It”s a story that changed the world. We look forward to making this an enormous television event on NBC.”
The 10-part miniseries “The Bible” was one of the spring’s biggest cable hits and has already sold over a million units on DVD.