In March, ABC is launching a new series based on the political intrigue between Saul, Israel’s first king, and David, Jesus’ ancestor. According to the creators, the show, to be called “Of Kings and Prophets,” will be “a non-dragons Game of Thrones.”
The story told in First Kings certainly has enough intrigue and plot twists to match HBO’s hit show.
The good news doesn’t stop there, however. The show’s creators, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, also wrote Ridley Scott’s “Exodus: Gods and Kings.” When that film, which focused on the story of Moses, received negative criticism for twisting the meaning of Moses’ story, Cooper and Collage went back to the drawing board on the King David TV show, promising to stay true to the source material. The show was originally set to release in Fall 2015, but will now air on Thursdays starting March 8.
In order to keep the show true to the Bible, ABC hired Iranian-American Muslim Reza Aslan, author of the book “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.” While Aslan may have controversial views of Jesus, his historical knowledge and reverence for King David’s story should add to the new show.
“When you’re talking about David, you’re talking about a man who is revered by almost half of the population of this planet,” Aslan said. “He is the model of kingship. He’s not Israel’s first king, but … he’s the world’s first rock star. This is a man whose songs that he wrote 3,000 years ago, we are still singing today. He’s called ‘messiah’ in the Bible. His blood courses through the veins of Jesus Christ.”
If you’re not excited yet, you haven’t been paying attention.
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