The Easter Sunday launch for the new TV miniseries A.D. The Bible Continues is just "perfect," according to executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.
The two are eager for fans to see the miniseries, which they teased would be just like "Game of Thrones meets The Bible."
"We couldn't make it any faster. We are people of deep faith and I believe God's hands are all over it. I believe it was always intended to be Easter Sunday," Burnett told the Television Critics Association of the release date.
"It's the perfect launch day, isn't it?" added Downey. "We just know there's a hunger for this kind of material. People are hungry for stories of faith and A.D., we believe, will satiate that hunger."
Just last week, they released a special preview to mark the start of the Lenten season, and the new series showed how Jesus' disciples, His mother Mary, and key political figures of the time dealt with His death and resurrection.
"Fuelled by the Roman oppression, these will be the darkest days after the death and betrayal of Jesus," described Downey.
A.D. is based on the first 10 chapters of the book of Acts and will also reveal how the Christian church was built.
The show's culturally diverse cast includes Juan Pablo di Pace, who took on the role of Jesus Christ, Babou Ceesay as John, Chipo Chung as Mary Magdalene, Greta Scacchi in the role of Jesus' mother Mary, and the disciple Peter portrayed by Adam Levy.
This time around, the faith-based miniseries will move from the History Channel to NBC in hopes of attracting more viewers.
"We are extremely ethical, and I spoke to them," Burnett said about the change. "I believe this belongs on American broadcast network. It has the biggest privilege in the world... to have an hour of primetime on American broadcast network TV; there is nothing like it on earth."
