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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.
