The long awaited sequel to Mel Gibson’s groundbreaking The Passion of the Christ became all the more real this week when he unveiled the first look for The Resurrection of the Christ.

The first look is a production still showing Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen leading a crowd upon a hill.

As Breitbart News previously reported, The Resurrection of the Christ recast all principal characters from its 2004 predecessor The Passion of the Christ, with Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen replacing Jim Caviezel as Jesus and Cuban actress Mariela Garriga replacing Monica Belucci as Mary Magdalene. A source close to the production said Gibson had initially considered using digital de-aging to keep the original stars but ultimately decided against it.

“They would have had to do all this CGI stuff, all this digital stuff — de-aging and all that — that would have been very costly,” the source said.

The film will be released in two parts and had originally been slated for a March 6, 2027, release until it was later moved to May 6, 2027, with part two being released a whole year later on May 25, 2028.

“I’m deeply grateful to my incredibly talented cast and crew for pouring their hearts into this production. Together, we created something powerful,” said Gibson. “This film represents a major part of my life’s work, and it has demanded everything of me as a filmmaker and as an artist. This is far more than a film to me. It’s a mission I’ve carried for over 20 years to tell what I believe is the most important story in human history.”

Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair, hailed Gibson as a “true visionary.”

“Mel is a true visionary with an artist’s eye for scale and a storyteller’s instinct for emotional truth,” said Fogelson. “Every image we’ve seen from set feels like a masterwork painting brought to life. There are very few directors who can operate at this level of epic spectacle while at the same time delivering such depth and conviction. Mel has crafted a film of extraordinary ambition that audiences worldwide have been waiting to experience for over 20 years.”