Millarworld founder Mark Millar recently revealed when The Chosen One, an upcoming series adaptation of his American Jesus comic book trilogy, will premiere on Netflix.
Millar announced that The Chosen One will be released on the streaming service on August 16, 2023. He also debuted a new poster for the American Jesus adaptation, which features the show's ensemble cast. Similar to the first poster, the new one-sheet teases the show's religious themes by having the titular protagonist posed in the shape of a cross. The Chosen One will be the first Millarworld property to debut on Netflix in almost two years. The last Millarworld series, an anime adaptation of Millar's four-issue comic book series Supercrooks, premiered on the streaming service in November 2021.
What Is American Jesus?
The Chosen One is based on Millar and Peter Gross' comic book, Chosen, also known as American Jesus, initially published in 2004 by Dark Horse. Following two unsuccessful attempts to adapt American Jesus to film, Netflix announced that it would be bringing American Jesus to life as a live-action series, shortly after acquiring Millarworld. Everardo Gout (The Purge) produced and directed Netflix's The Chosen One. He also co-wrote the series with his brother Leopoldo Gout. "What they've done with this is just masterful," teased Millar. "It looks like Roma or City of God, a six part series of absolute beauty and I've loved every second of this."
In The Chosen One, "a little kid finds out that the reason his mother disappeared with him and they're hiding out in a small town is because he's the returned Jesus Christ and they're doing everything they can to stay alive so he can grow up and face the Antichrist in the City of Megiddo as per the biblical prophecy." The Netflix series stars Dianna Agron (Glee), Tenoch Huerta (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Carlos Bardem (Assassin's Creed), among others.
The Chosen One Evokes Stephen King's Stand by Me
Millar previously described The Chosen One as "a horror story, but also a coming of age and has a Stand by Me vibe, a kid just like you or I who likes Star Wars, video games and girls in his class suddenly finding out he has this tremendous destiny. This is going to be an absolute beauty." For the unfamiliar, Stand by Me is a 1986 coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King's 1982 novella The Body.
The Chosen One begins streaming on Netflix on Aug. 16.
Source: Mark Millar