‘Messiah’: Netflix Adds Nearly A Dozen To Cast Of Suspense Thriller Series
EXCLUSIVE: Melinda Page Hamilton, Stefania LaVie Owen, Jane Adams, Sayyid El Alami, Fares Landousil and Wil Traval round out the series-regular cast of Messiah, Netflix’s series from writer Michael Petroni (The Book Thief) and producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.
Barbara Eve Harris, Iqbal Theba, Emily Kinney, Jackson Hurst and Nicole Rose Scimeca are set recur on the 10-episode straight-to-series drama. They all join previously announced regulars Michelle Monaghan, John Ortiz, Tomer Sisley and Mehdi Dehbi
Created by Petroni, Messiah explores the lines among religion, faith and politics as told from multiple points of view. It chronicles the modern world’s reaction to al-Masih (Dehbi), a man who first appears in the Middle East, creating a groundswell of followers around him claiming he is the Messiah. Is he sent from God, or is he a dangerous fraud bent on dismantling the world’s geopolitical order?
Hamilton (Damnation, Devious Maids) is Anna Iguero, the Virginia-born daughter of a preacher, who married a preacher. Anna’s world gets turned around when a stranger from a far-off land enters her life. Owen (upcoming films Backseat and The Beach Bum) is Rebecca Iguero, a troubled teen living in a backwater Texas town who wants nothing more than to leave her life behind. Fate seems to conspire to bring her wish true when a series of events rocks her life.
Adams (Twin Peaks, Hung) plays Miriam Keneally, an acerbic CNN reporter who is doggedly devoted to unearthing the truth about al-Masih (Dehbi). In the process, she has to come to terms with some of her own personal secrets. Traval (Jessica Jones, Once Upon a Time) is Will Mathers, an Army veteran-turned-FBI JTTF agent who finds himself at loggerheads with his CIA counterpart Eva Geller (Monaghan) as they are thrown together in the pursuit of al-Masih.
Newcomer El Alami (is Jibril Medina, an orphaned Syrian refugee who leaves war-torn Damascus to become a devotee of al-Masih in the hope the stranger leads him to his destiny. And newcomer Landousil plays Samir, a Syrian refugee and friend to Jibril who also abandons Damascus, only to find that his destiny is elsewhere.
On the recurring side, Harris is Katherine Bailey, Geller’s level-headed boss and confidante. Theba is Danny Kirmani, Under Secretary for the Middle East. Scimeca is Raeah Hardwick, a mortally ill child who goes on a pilgrimage with her mother, Staci (Hardwick). Hurst is Jonah Hardwick, Staci’s husband and Raeah’s father.
No premiere date is set for Messiah, which was greenlighted in November. The executive producers are Petroni, Burnett, Downey, James McTeigue and Andrew Deane.
Dino-Ray Ramos contributed to this report.
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