The Passion of the Christ 2 is filming this year – yes, really

Somehow, Jesus returned – The Passion of the Christ 2, the sequel to Mel Gibson’s brutal religious epic, is set to begin filming this year.

In 2004, Mel Gibson directed The Passion of the Christ, a movie chronicling the final 12 hours of Jesus’ life, including the betrayal of Judas, the scourging at the pillar, and the crucifixion.

While immensely successful – it’s still the highest-grossing R-rated movie in the US today, even above Joker and Deadpool – it was also extremely controversial, attracting accusations of anti-Semitism.

Nevertheless, Gibson has been developing a sequel for nearly two decades, and it’s reportedly set to start shooting in 2023.

The Passion of the Christ 2 to start filming this year

According to a World of Reel report, Gibson will begin filming the sequel – currently titled The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection – in “a few months.”

There’s more: Jim Caviezel is set to return to play Jesus. The actor once said the role cost him his acting career, telling the San Francisco Chronicle: “[Gibson] said, ‘You’ll never work in this town again.’ I told him, ‘We all have to embrace our crosses.’

“I told him, ‘Mel, this is what I believe. We all have a cross to carry. I have to carry my own cross. If we don’t carry our crosses, we are going to be crushed under the weight of it. So let’s go and do it.’ And we began with the film.”

Caviezel is also a figure of controversy, given his endorsement of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which alleges Donald Trump warred with a global cabal of Satan-worshipping, cannibalistic paedophiles in the “deep state” while he was in office.

In an earlier speech at a right-wing conference, he borrowed quotes from Gibson’s Braveheart, saying: “Fight, and you may die. Run, and you’ll live – at least a while.”

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Gibson confirmed the sequel would follow the resurrection of Jesus. “It’s more than a single event, it’s an amazing event – and to underpin that with the things around it is really the story,” he said.

“It’s not just about the event, it’s not some sort of chronological telling of just that event. That could be boring… it’s predictable in that, ‘Now we know what happens’, but what are the other things around it that happen?”

Colbert asked if there are any “bad guys”, and Gibson said: “There are… they’re in another realm.”

In the meantime, check out our other upcoming movie hubs:

The Conjuring 4 | M3GAN | Constantine 2 | Scream 6 | Terrifier 3 | The Last of Us HBO | Return to Silent Hill | Saw 10 | A Quiet Place: Day One | Knock at the Cabin