''Messiah '' is an American thriller

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series created by

Michael Petroni Michael Petroni is an Australian screenwriter and director. Biography Petroni worked in the early 1990s as a comedy writer and performer on Australian television, and appeared as "Psycho Bob", an American serial killer character, in ''The Big Gi ...

. The first season consists of ten episodes, which were released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on January 1, 2020. The series stars Mehdi Dehbi,

Tomer Sisley Tomer Sisley (born Tomer Gazit; he, תומר סיסלי; born 14 August 1974) is an Israeli and French actor and comedian. Early and personal life Born in West Berlin, West Germany, to Israeli-born parents who had relocated for his father's job ...

Michelle Monaghan Michelle Lynn Monaghan ( ; born March 23, 1976) is an American actress, best known for her starring roles in ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), '' Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), '' Made of Honor'' (2008), '' Eagle Eye'' (2008), '' Trucker'' (2008), ''Sou ...

, John Ortiz, Melinda Page Hamilton, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jane Adams, Sayyid El Alami, Fares Landoulsi, and

Wil Traval William Traval is an Australian actor, known for his work as Dr. Jack Quade on the Australian hospital drama '' All Saints'' (2004–2008), and as Will Simpson on the Netflix superhero drama series ''Jessica Jones'' (2015–2018). Early life ...

. In March 2020, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

The series focuses on the modern world's reaction to a man – who first appears in the Middle East – whose followers claim him to be the

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

return of ʿĪsā (''

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

'' in Arabic). His sudden appearance and apparent miracles spark a growing international following, casting doubts around who he really is, a case investigated by a CIA

Case Officer In intelligence organizations, agent handling is the management of so-called agents (called secret agents or spies in common parlance), principal agents, and agent networks (called "assets") by intelligence officers typically known as case o ...

Cast

Main

* Mehdi Dehbi as al-Masih (Payam Golshiri) *

as Aviram Dahan *

as CIA Case Officer Eva Geller * John Ortiz as Felix Iguero * Melinda Page Hamilton as Anna Iguero * Stefania LaVie Owen as Rebecca Iguero * Jane Adams as Miriam Keneally * Sayyid El Alami as Jibril Medina * Fares Landoulsi as Samir *

as Will Mathers

Recurring

* Philip Baker Hall as Zelman Katz * Beau Bridges as Edmund DeGuilles * Hugo Armstrong as Ruben * Barbara Eve Harris as Katherin * Nimrod Hochenberg as Israel *

Emily Kinney Emily Rebecca Kinney is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She is known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC's horror drama television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2011–2015, 2018). Kinney has also appeared on several other televisi ...

as Staci Kirmani * Jackson Hurst as Jonah Kirmani * Nicole Rose Scimeca as Raeah Kirmani *

Makram Khoury Makram Jamil Khoury (Arabic:, مكرم يعقوب خوري}, he, מכרם חורי) is an Arab-Israeli actor, born 30 May 1945 in Jerusalem. He was the youngest artist and the first Arab to win the Israel Prize, the highest civic honor in Isra ...

as Mullah Omar * Ori Pfeffer as Alon * Rona-Lee Shimon as Mika Dahan * Kenneth Miller as Larry * Assaâd Bouab as Qamar Maloof * Dermot Mulroney as President John Young

Episodes

Production

Development

On November 17, 2017, it was announced that

had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by

who is also credited as an executive producer and showrunner of the series. Additional executive producers include Andrew Deane,

James McTeigue James McTeigue (born December 29, 1967) is an Australian film and television director. He has been an assistant director on many films, including '' Dark City'' (1998), the ''Matrix'' trilogy (1999–2003) and '' Star Wars: Episode II – Att ...

Mark Burnett Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', '' Survivor'', ''The Voice'', and ''Sh ...

and

Roma Downey Roma Burnett (née Downey) is an actress, producer, and author from Derry, Northern Ireland. She produced the mini-series ''The Bible'' for the History Channel and also appeared in it as Mary, mother of Jesus. For nine seasons she played Moni ...

. Production companies involved with the series include Industry Entertainment and

LightWorkers Media Lightworkers Media is an American Christian media and film production company helmed by President Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett and owned by MGM Holdings through MGM Television. LightWorkers Media produced the Emmy-nominated ''The Bi ...

. On March 26, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after one season.

Casting

In January 2018, it was announced that John Ortiz,

and Mehdi Dehbi would star in the series. In May 2018, it was announced that

had been cast in a starring role. In June 2018, it was reported that Melinda Page Hamilton, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jane Adams, Sayyid El Alami, Fares Landoulsi and

had joined the main cast. In the same month, it was announced that Beau Bridges and Philip Baker Hall had joined the cast in a recurring capacity. This was Hall’s final credit, prior to his death in 2022.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

for the first season took place in Amman,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

;

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

, Mountainair, Estancia, Belen, Santa Fe and Clines Corners,

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

from June 2018 to August 2018.

Release

Marketing

On December 3, 2019, the official trailer for the series was released by Netflix.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 44% approval rating for the first season, based on critic 27 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "A promising premise and superb ensemble can't save ''Messiah'' from its own bland storytelling." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the season has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The trailer received negative reception from some Muslim audiences. In December 2019, it was announced in a press conference that The Royal Film Commission of Jordan requested

to refrain from streaming ''Messiah'' in the country due to the provocative subject matter and controversial religious content covered in the series.

References

External links