Oscar winner Mel Gibson has shared a brand new Passion of the Christ 2 filming update regarding the current status of the long-in-development sequel to 2004’s biblical drama starring Jim Caviezel. This comes after over four months since Gibson was spotted in Malta, where he was reportedly part of an 11-member production team scouting the country for potential locations that will be used for the sequel.

What is Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ 2 filming update?

During a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Gibson confirmed that they are currently targeting a 2026 production start date for the Passion of the Christ sequel, which will officially be titled Resurrection of the Christ. The project has been in pre-production since 2016.

“I’m hoping next year sometime. There’s a lot required because it’s an acid trip,” he said. “My brother and I and Randall all sort of congregated on this. So there’s some good heads put together, but there’s some crazy stuff. And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go to hell.”

The sequel will once again be directed by Gibson, with Jim Caviezel reprising his role as Jesus, whose miraculous resurrection will be the center of the next installment. The Oscar-winning director previously teased that he has co-written two different scripts for the project, with the first one described as “an acid trip” that will take audiences to “other realms.” At the moment, it currently has no official release date or distributor.

The Passion of the Christ depicted the final days of Jesus Christ’s life and his crucifixion. It also starred Maia Morgenstern as Mary, Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene, Francesco De Vito as Peter, Luca Lionello as Judas, and more. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film was still a commercial success. It earned a worldwide gross of $612 million against a reported budget of around $30 million.

Source: Variety