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American Jesus refuses to be dragged down. Just in time for Easter, it was announced that Mark Millar and Peter Gross‘ American Jesus would rise on Netflix — fittingly, the release date is still unknown — to enforce his popularity in a new series, The Chosen One. And it even has an official poster, above.
Before you scroll down to read the rest of the press release, bolster your national faith with Bad Religion‘s “American Jesus.”
Directed by Everardo Gout (The Purge) and produced and written by Everardo and his brother Leopoldo Gout (Molly’s Game), Netflix’s The Chosen One is an adaptation of the American Jesus trilogy, which concluded its 19-year run last month. Today’s announcement is the culmination of a journey that began in 2016 when it was announced that Waypoint Entertainment had optioned the trilogy.
A 2017 announcement that Millarworld had been purchased for an undisclosed sum at Netflix, a streamer notorious for inviting controversy, followed the previous year’s optioning news. In the comics world, anything with Millar attached invites controversy (and for a good reason, the man thinks rape is just a “plot device” and once expressed amazement that Down’s syndrome impacts people of all races), but, hey, maybe American Jesus can force some self-reflection and redemption in the fictional savior’s flock… and The Chosen One can be a whole new beginning for Millar.
“What they’ve done with this is just masterful,” wrote Millar in his newsletter about working with the Gout brothers, announcing the debut of a poster for the series. “It looks like Roma or City of God, a six-part series of absolute beauty, and I’ve loved every second of this.”
Millar continued, “The third and final book in the trilogy was just released a month or so back, nineteen years for a mere three slim volumes. One wag said I was lucky to get this finished before the REAL biblical Apocalypse arrived.” (This writer thinks that wag is right, but as the great sage and eminent junkie Henry Dean would point out, sometimes things just work out how they should—nineteen years is ka for a series like this.)
“It really did take a long time, but we’re so happy with it,” added Millar. “This is going to be an absolute beauty.”
In the series, a little kid finds out that the reason his mother disappeared with him and they’re hiding out in a small town is because he’s the returned Jesus Christ, and they’re doing everything they can to stay alive, so he can grow up and face the Antichrist in the City of Megiddo as per the biblical prophecy. “It’s a horror story,” writes Millar, “but also a coming of age and has a Stand By Me vibe, a kid just like you or I, who likes Star Wars, video games, and girls in his class suddenly finding out he has this tremendous destiny.”
And here’s the latest covers for the American Jesus trilogy below:
