Hell and the firmament before the creation of the world. Mel Gibson has described what is coming in the sequel The Resurrection of the Christ
Mel Gibson has for the first time described in more concrete terms what his two-part sequel to The Passion of the Christ looks like. And from his words it is clear that The Resurrection of the Christ will not be a narrative that sticks to one timeline or one world. In an interview for the American Christian Post the director talks about travelling between realms, about two hells and about allowing himself to write in what the Gospels pass over in silence.
A filmmaker who admits he is filling in the gaps
Gibson starts from the fact that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are what is called synoptic, meaning that they describe the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus in ways similar to one another and far from exhaustively. It is in those empty places that he sees room for a film.
“You look at the Gospels and they are synoptic, which means they do not tell you everything,” Mel Gibson says in an interview for The Christian Post. “And even John says that Jesus said and did a great deal more, and if it were all to be written down, it would not fit into all the libraries of the world. So a lot of things were never written down.”
The director stresses that in these places he did not want to part ways with traditional doctrine but to add to it. “You can look at these things and ask yourself what was probably going on around them, try to analyse it and make conjectures about what might have been,” Gibson says. “Not to go against anything in orthodox teaching, but to enrich what is there for everyone to see. And I hope that some of those revelations will surprise audiences.”
The firmament, Sheol and two hells
While the original The Passion of the Christ took place practically entirely in Jerusalem and its surroundings, the sequel is, according to the director, to leave the planet altogether. “You will of course go into various realms,” Gibson told the Christian Post. “You find yourself in the firmament before the creation of the world. You will be in the hell of the righteous and then in the hell of the damned. It jumps around a bit. You do not stay just here on the planet.”
The director's earlier comments match that. On Joe Rogan's podcast in January 2025 Gibson described the screenplay in words that few expected from a biblical epic.
“It is an acid trip. I have never read anything like it. There is crazy stuff in there,” Gibson told Joe Rogan. “To tell the story properly you have to start with the fall of the angels, which means you are somewhere else, in another realm. You have to go to hell. You have to go to Sheol.”
The origin of Satan is also meant to be part of the story and, according to Gibson, the film does not end with the resurrection but follows the fates of the apostles all the way to the death of the last of them. “I think these films will be even more encouraging, because you will see the more cheerful pieces as well, and then the less cheerful ones,” Gibson adds. “For the apostles it was no walk in the park, they had to go through quite a lot, but in the end they triumph. So it should be inspiring and uplifting.”
Two hundred million and eight years of writing
The original The Passion of the Christ was made in 2004 for roughly thirty million dollars, which Gibson financed himself, and it earned almost 612 million worldwide. It became the highest-grossing independent film in history and for two decades also the highest-grossing film restricted to viewers aged seventeen and over. It earned three Oscar nominations and at the same time it ranks among the most debated titles in modern cinema, not least because of accusations of antisemitism.
The sequel is a different weight class. The budget is estimated at one hundred million dollars for each of the two parts, so two hundred million in total, and that without the backing of a big Hollywood studio. Distribution is handled by Lionsgate and production by Icon Productions, the company of Gibson and Bruce Davey. “We obviously had more money to play with, so you have more toys, more tools and you can do bigger and better things with it,” Gibson says of the difference from the first film.
He wrote the screenplay for eight years together with his brother Donal Gibson and with Randall Wallace, the author of Braveheart. Shooting ended in the spring of 2026 after one hundred and thirty-four days in Italy, specifically in Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi and Matera. The cinematographer was Robrecht Heyvaert.
A new Jesus and a new Mary Magdalene
Neither Jim Caviezel nor Monica Bellucci returned to their roles. Jesus is played by the Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, known from the series Vikings, and Mary Magdalene by the Italian and Cuban actress Mariela Garriga. Other roles are taken by Kasia Smutniak, Riccardo Scamarcio, Rupert Everett and Pier Luigi Pasino.
The premiere has moved and split apart
Lionsgate originally planned to release both parts in the same year, the first on Good Friday, 26 March 2027, and the second forty days later on the Feast of the Ascension. Given the scale of the production, the studio shifted the dates. The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One arrives on 6 May 2027, again on the Ascension, and The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two only on 25 May 2028, over the Memorial Day weekend. The vacated March slot was taken by the supernatural thriller Day Drinker with Johnny Depp.
“Mel is a true visionary with a painter's eye for spectacle and a storyteller's instinct for emotional truth,” Adam Fogelson, head of the Lionsgate film division, said in a statement.
The Passion of the Christ returns to cinemas
The timing of Gibson's remarks is no accident. The original The Passion of the Christ returns to American cinemas in a remastered 4K version for a week-long limited run from 10 to 17 September 2026, and the screening is to include a behind-the-scenes taster from the first part of the sequel.
WHERE TO WATCH: The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One in cinemas from 6 May 2027 (USA), Part Two from 25 May 2028 (USA)
Sources: The Christian Post, Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, TheWrap, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Lionsgate (official statement)