Netflix Greenlights ‘Messiah’ Series

 Netflix has greenlit a religion-themed drama series Messiah executive produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

The series will chronicle the modern world’s reaction to a man who first appears in the Middle East creating a groundswell of followers around him claiming he is the Messiah. Burnett and Downey (The Bible Series) will executive produce the series, which was created by Michael Petroni (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

Messiah promises to be a fascinating series for viewers of every faith, and a thrilling drama filled with multi-layered characters set on a global stage,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President, Original Content for Netflix in a statement.

Downey and Burnett added: "Messiah is a series that will have the audience asking big questions. What if someone showed up in 2018 amid strange occurrences and was thought to be the Messiah?  What would society do? How would the media cover him? Would millions simply quit work? Could governments collapse? t’s a series that could change everything."

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.