Mel Gibson’s 'Passion of the Christ' sequel sees cast shake-up for Jesus, Mary, and more

Mel Gibson’s sequel to “The Passion of the Christ” just started filming, but don’t expect to see many familiar faces.

Jim Caviezel, who played the lead role of Jesus Christ in the 2004 film, has been replaced by Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, while Mariela Garriga will take over the part of Mary Magdalene from Monica Bellucci, per Variety.

Additionally, Kasia Smutniak is replacing Maia Morgenstern as Mary, Peter is being played by Pier Luigi Pasino, and Riccardo Scamarcio will star as Pontius Pilate. Rupert Everett will also appear an unspecified small but important role.

The “Resurrection of the Christ” takes place three days after Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, and reportedly there is a logical reason to recast so many parts.

“They would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff — de-aging and all that — that would have been very costly,” a source told Variety. The outlet also reported that filming began this week at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios.

Gibson has been working on the sequel for many years, and in 2022, he spoke about the difficulties he was facing in his attempts to bring the story to the big screen.

During an appearance on EWTN's The World Over YouTube show, he explained, "Well it's a huge subject, and it’s not a linear narrative so that in order to have it mean something and resonate for almost anybody that watches it ...You have to juxtapose the central event that I’m trying to tell with everything else around it in the future, in the past, and in other realms, and that’s kind of getting a little sci-fi out there.”

He continued, "It's a big story, it's a difficult concept and it's taken me a long time to focus and find a way to tell that story and really delivers to someone who may not know anything about the central story ... "

“The Resurrection of the Christ” will actually be split into two installments, the first due on Good Friday on March 26, 2027 and the second following on Ascension Day on May 6, 2027.