Mel Gibson just gave us an update on his ‘Passion of the Christ’ sequel. He keeps delaying it. The film was originally supposed to shoot in 2023, then 2024, and last we heard, 2025.
How does 2026 sound? During an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Gibson confirms that the aim is to now shoot the film “sometime next year.” He also shared the official title: “The Resurrection of Christ.” Jim Caviezel will reprise his role as Jesus.
While he hopes to begin shooting next year, he did note he does not have a start date: “I don’t have a start date. I just have to begin pre-production and see what happens. It’s just going to roll in its own time. It’s taking its own time. I thought it was late. It’s taking too long. It’s taking too long. But it’s probably just right. It’s when it’s supposed to be.”
One key factor that keeps delaying ‘Resurrection’ is the question of which version of the screenplay would be used for the film. Since 2016, Gibson has been hard at work on the script with his brother, Donal, and “Braveheart” screenwriter Randall Wallace. There have already been at least six drafts written of the screenplay. In 2023, I had been told that there were two particular drafts — both very different from each other — that were being taken into consideration.
In April 2024, Wallace confirmed that the screenplay was finally completed, and that they’d be using a hybrid of both drafts as one screenplay.
Gibson has hinted that the sequel, potentially split into two separate chapters, would be more philosophical and poetic than the more linear and straightforward original. In fact, he’s describing it the Rogan as an “acid trip” with Jesus going “into other realms.” The plot of the sequel is being dubbed by some as the story of “Jesus’ decent into hell.”
‘Resurrection’ would focus on the twenty-four hours encompassing Jesus’ passion and the events that occurred three days between his crucifixion and resurrection.
Although “Passion of the Christ” divided critics more twenty years ago, it was an eye-opening account of the last days of Jesus and became a blockbuster success. The film was gripping, and as terrifying as any horror film. Gibson as a director has never shied away from violence: “Braveheart” and, his best film, “Apocalypto,” are two of the most violent movies I’ve ever seen.