“He can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk, and, perhaps, even raise the dead,” according to the network’s description of the show, which is based on a 2009 comic book series.
Mark Millar, the comic book creator of hits like Kingsman, wrote the story that inspired the series as part of his Millarworld empire, which was purchased by Netflix in August 2017.
“As creator and re-inventor of some of the most memorable stories and characters in recent history, ranging from Marvel’s The Avengers to Millarworld’s Kick-Ass, Kingsman, Wanted and Reborn franchises, Mark is as close as you can get to a modern day Stan Lee,” said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos last August.
“We can’t wait to harness the creative power of Millarworld to Netflix and start a new era in global storytelling,” he said.
The new Netflix lineup includes two TV Millar shows: Jupiter’s Legacy and American Jesus, along with three Millar feature films — Empress, Huck, and Sharkey the Bounty Hunter.
Netflix has reportedly been developing other projects with Millar and his wife Lucy Millar, including The Magic Order, which has been published as Netflix’s first comic book and was “the biggest selling new comic-book franchise in nearly 20 years.”
“My wife Lucy and I are 11 months into our jobs at Netflix and it’s everything we hoped for to the power of ten,” Millar said. “To see a movie based on your work every couple of years is incredibly exciting, but to see them all happening at once like this and with talent this high-end is just off the scale.”
“These are writers and directors I’ve privately been sending fan-mail to over the last eighteen months so to be working with them all is just enormously exciting,” Millar said. “This really is the greatest creative environment I’ve ever worked in. I can’t wait to switch on my computer every morning.”
“American Jesus” will be run as a multilingual (Spanish/English) series and will explore how a modern-day Jesus deals with “the destiny to lead the world in a conflict thousands of years in the making.”
The show’s IMDB page describes American Jesus as “an exploration of Christianity in every faction of American Life, from the bread line to the yoga studio, from the humble churches of snake handlers to the mega churches of the ex-urbs.”
“Populated by an array of religious and secular characters offering candid, often illuminating testimonials, American Jesus is a vivid mosaic of personalities and conflicting points of view that emerges as a portrait of an America yearning for solace and meaning in the modern world,” the site reveals.
Everardo Gout and Leopoldo Gout will serve as co-showrunners and executive producers on the series and Everardo Gout will also direct, the Wrap reported.