This article is from the archive of our partner 
.
Diogo Morgado, who last played Jesus in Son of God, is set to co-star in a new CW pilot starring other above-average individuals, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This casting is especially relevant given the debate over whether Morgado, who inspired the #HotJesus hashtag, was maybe too attractive to play the son of God. This casting is definitive proof that Morgado is, at the very least, hot, since the CW's casting practices tend to favor looks over talent.
While the real Jesus debate should be over whether he was white or not (he was not), there's a slightly less important discussion to be had on how attractive we want our biblical stars to be. Carol Costello at CNN questioned the verisimilitude of a tan, buff Jesus, but argued that "we actually don't know what Jesus looked like. We do know he was a carpenter, so perhaps Jesus was buff." Mark Burnett, the director, said last year: "That's so silly. It just distracts from Jesus."
Rosemary Jean-Louis, writing for Georgia Public Broadcast, was "a little uh hot and bothered," over the trend. There's Russell Crowe as good-looking Noah, Christian Bale as hunky Moses in the upcoming Exodus, and, of course, #HotJesus. But one middle-school chaplain said it didn't bother her. “If the stories are well told and true to the text, then kudos to the filmmakers for bringing in hot actors to reach a wider audience,” says Rev. Wendy Porter Cade.
At least half of that philosophy applies to the CW. Morgado's next gig will be on The Messengers, about a group of people who are killed by a space thing and come back to life to stop the apocalypse. Here's the summary:
The Messengers centers on a mysterious object that crashes down to Earth and a group of seemingly unconnected strangers who die from the energy pulse. They then awaken to learn that they have been deemed responsible for preventing the impending apocalypse.
Morgado will play a character referred to as The Man, a mysterious figure who wakes up naked and burned in the desert and sets out on a mission to provide some answers about the strange events.
Sounds cool. The CW has been trying to broaden its supernatural scope from vampires to alien stuff, like mid-season shows The 100 and Star-Crossed. The former is about kids who get sent to Earth to repopulate and the latter is a desegregation love story, but with aliens instead of minorities. Both star objectively attractive people, so The Messenger will fit right in.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
