Video Interview: Mark Burnett & Roma Downey

NEW YORK: Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, executive producers of A.D., talk about how the series came to be, the challenges of producing it and the profound personal impact this project has had on them and on the cast and crew.

Following the huge success of The Bible, the ten-part series that aired on HISTORY in 2013 and averaged some 10 million viewers per episode, executive producers Downey (who starred in Touched by an Angel) and Burnett (whose numerous producing credits include The Voice, Survivor, The Celebrity Apprentice) continued the greatest story ever told with A.D. The Bible Continues.

This 12-episode series premiered on NBC on Easter Sunday and was the most-watched scripted show on the broadcast networks that night. A.D. The Bible Continues picks up where The Bible left off, with the crucifixion of Jesus and the impact that his death and resurrection had on his first followers: Peter, John and Mary Magdalene. They face trials, imprisonments and persecution as they fight for survival in the dangerous and complicated world of the Jewish nation under Roman occupation.

But these struggles for power and the conflict between good and evil, greed and kindness, faith and suspicion are timeless and as captivating today as they have been through the millennia. As Burnett says, if you place these stories in a contemporary setting, you have House of Cards.

He and Downey attribute the success of A.D. The Bible Continues—produced by LightWorkers Media, a division of Burnett’s company United Artists Media Group—to the fact that it offers a message of hope to today’s viewers.

This interview is available with subtitles in Spanish, Mandarin and French.