Picture: Mark Millar / Netflix
Following the release of Jupiter’s Legacy and Super Crooks on Netflix, American Jesus will be the next major Millarworld adaptation to come to Netflix. It will be released on Netflix under The Chosen One (or El Elegido in Spanish) and was first announced among the initial 2018 roster of shows and movies. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming series.
First released in 2004 under the name of Chosen, the comic book series was amongst the first batch of titles from Millarworld. The comic was written by Mark Millar, with art provided by Peter Gross.
The comics were later re-released as American Jesus, ultimately releasing three issues in total. A follow-up comic series was released between 2019 and 2020 called American Jesus: The New Messiah.
American Jesus was among the library of comics Netflix acquired in 2017 with its acquisition of Millarworld. A year after the acquisition, the first roster of Millarworld shows and movies was announced with American Jesus amongst the names.
Here’s what was announced about The Chosen One at the time:
“Multilingual (Spanish/English) series American Jesus follows a twelve-year-old boy who suddenly discovers he’s returned as Jesus Christ. He can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk, and, perhaps, even raise the dead! How will he deal with the destiny to lead the world in a conflict thousands of years in the making?”
We should note that Netflix already has a show released under The Chosen One. We’re referring to the Brazillian TV thriller that ran for two seasons.
Our very first look at the series came via Netflix Tudum in September 2022:
Who’s behind The Chosen One / American Jesus for Netflix?
Pictured: Everardo Gout and Leopoldo Gout
Everardo Gout and Leopoldo Gout were originally announced at the beginning as co-showrunners. The former will also serve as the director of the series too.
Like how Netflix originally poached Steven S. DeKnight for Jupiter’s Legacy (who notably dramatically left the project), who helmed the successful series Daredevil, Netflix bought in one of the directors of Luke Cage in the form of Everardo Gout. He directed season 2, episode 12 of the Marvel series.
Elsewhere, Everardo is known for The Forever Purge, released in 2021. He’s directing an episode of Joe Picket for Paramount+ and working on shows like Snowpiercer, The Terror, National Geographic’s Mars, and Banshee.
Leopoldo is known for serving as an executive producer on Netflix’s docuseries Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich and as an executive producer on Zoo and Instinct.
Also working on the series is Stacy Perskie and serving as the casting director is Luis Rosales.
Who will star in The Chosen One on Netflix?
No official cast list has been released so far but at Netflix Tudum 2022, several cast members were spoken about and confirmed, including:
- Tenoch Huerta (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Narcos: Mexico)
- Dianna Argon (Glee, The Family)
Tenoch Huerta and Dianna Argon
What’s The Chosen One about?
Picture: Netflix
The official comic description gives us a solid indication of what we can expect and it looks like it’ll be following the first issue closely:
“After surviving a freak accident, a twelve-year-old boy discovers he’s the returned Jesus Christ. He can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk…he can even raise the dead. How will he deal with his destiny and lead the world through a conflict that’s been thousands of years in the making?”
The Netflix page setup for American Jesus (that you have to navigate directly through to at the time of writing and not available via search) states:
“A 12-year-old boy learns he’s returned as Jesus Christ in a final effort to save mankind and must step into his destiny. Based on Mark Millar’s comic.”
We’ve also seen character descriptions for the two main characters: Jodie and his Mom, Sarah.
Jodie is described as “a seemingly normal teenager until a freak accident makes him think otherwise. He is not pathologically shy but introverted. He is also a great storyteller, a trait he uses to entertain his friends.”
Sarah is described as “a beautiful and brave woman. She is Jodie’s mother and protects him a lot, although she doesn’t know what she is protecting him from.”
When will production start on American Jesus?
Production on the show had been thought to start in Spring 2020 but didn’t come to fruition. Delays were no doubt, in part, caused by the global pandemic.
In May 2021, Mark Millar spoke to Deadline providing them updates about the series saying:
“The development for American Jesus is coming along beautifully in the talented and capable hands of Everardo Gout and Leopoldo Gout. I’m blown away by the creative choices that Netflix has allowed us, and particularly since this series will feature Spanish and English dialogue.”
Production was then tentatively set to begin on March 1st, 2022. While we don’t have exact filming locations, we know that most of the show will be filmed in Mexico, outside Mexico City specifically.
Speaking about why the show was being filmed in Mexico, Millar has said:
“Relocating American Jesus to Mexico makes the mythological much more authentic and the apocalyptic all the more real.”
The Millarworld account confirmed that shooting on the series officially began on April 25th, 2022. When asked if Mark Millar will visit the set, the account (no longer run by Millar) responded:
“I think Mark’s popping by at some point, but the set is 14 hrs from Mexico City and temperature is 40 degrees. As a ginger I’m not sure he’s designed to survive that!”
The American Jesus Netflix series starts shooting today in Mexico, based on the book by @mrmarkmillar & @PeterGrossArt. Our best to our friends @LeopoldoGout, @everardogout and all the cast! pic.twitter.com/8lX6TLx8N0
— Millarworld (@mrmarkmillar) April 25, 2022
At Netflix Tudum 2022 (The Chosen One featured at around 1 hour 45 minutes into the presentation), updates were provided on the series alongside a slew of behind-the-scenes photos and an interview with Mark Millar himself. The main clip focuses on “the first day of filming” at a fairground.
Millar, talking about the “spectacular” locations that the series is shooting at, said, “The visuals of the series are very, very interesting because normally what makes a comic book adaptation is CGI cities. This is very real, so what they’ve done is flipped it the other way and just made the environment look almost supernatural.”
Millar added, “I think fans should be excited about the fact that I’m excited.”
Behind the scenes on The Chosen One – Pictures: Netflix Tudum
Early in the show’s filming, a car crash incident claimed the lives of two actors and six other cast and crew members injured. The crash happened during transit from Santa Rosalía to the local airport on June 16th, 2022. The show’s production was temporarily paused by Redrum, the production company behind the show. Later, reports concluded that speeding was behind the accident.
While it’s been a rough start for Millarworld Netflix, at least on the movie and TV front, the streamer has quietly released a slew of comics since 2018, including Sharkey the Bounty Hunter, Space Bandits, and most recently, King of Spies.
The next roster of Netflix projects from Millarworld expected to arrive following The Chosen One includes the live-action Super Crooks project and The Magic Order, which is back in development after being delayed.
Are you looking forward to The Chosen One coming soon to Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
