When producers Mark Burnett and his wife Roma Downey first embarked on a mission to create the television series The Bible, people were skeptical and did not think that it would amount to anything.
"Everyone thought we lost our minds," Burnett told KPRC Houston. "When we said we were making the Bible into a series everybody thought it was a joke and nobody would watch The Bible on TV."
In the end, the skeptics and even Burnett and Downey themselves were surprised by the number of people who faithfully watched the show.
Burnett added that "100 million Americans tuned in. We knew we had to continue. We were up against Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and we were the most-watched cable program that year."
Now, the couple is working on the follow-up series A.D., which will premiere on NBC on Easter Sunday. They are also working on other faith-based shows such as Dovekeepers and Unveiled.
"I think people are hungry for these stories, hungry for hope, and they are hungry for their connection to God," Downey said. "When you watch on Easter Sunday you will see the crucifixion, but it doesn't end there. You will also see the resurrection of Jesus, and the series of the next 12 weeks will take you on a journey of the disciples through the times that they lived in."
Downey, who also plays Jesus' mother in the series, relied heavily on prayer while working on A.D. in hopes of reaching a much wider audience.
"There isn't anything in our lives that doesn't begin with prayer and doesn't begin with intention," she said. "The intention was to create something beautiful that would touch people's lives and bring them closer to God. We want people to see themselves in this story. The cast had to be racial, diverse."
