Jaakko Ohtonen And Mariela Garriga Cast To Replace Jim Caviezel And Monica Bellucci In Mel Gibson's 'The Resurrection Of The Christ'

A new report alleges that actor Jaakko Ohtonen will replace Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ and Mariela Garriga will replace Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s upcoming The Resurrection of the Christ.

Variety’s Nick Vivarelli reports that Gibson and his team have “cast Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen in the role of Jesus, replacing original star Jim Caviezel.”

Additionally, he shared Mary Magdalene, a role held in Passion by Monica Bellucci, is being played in Resurrection by Cuban actress Mariela Garriga, who starred in the Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning films as Marie.

Kasia Smutniak will play Mary the Mother of God instead of Maia Morgenstern as well.

Other members of the cast include Pier Luigi Pasino as the Apostle Peter, Riccardo Scamarcio as Pontius Pilate, and Rupert Everett has joined the film in an unknown role.

Francesco De Vito played Peter in The Passion of the Christ. Hristo Shopov previously played Pontius Pilate.

This report of the new cast follow a report from Page Six indicating that Caviezel and Bellucci would not reprise their roles indicating it had to do with scheduling as well as with de-aging technology. A source told the outlet that the two weren’t returning because “they’d [have had] to do a lot of work with the [original] actors… digital stuff, plus the scheduling.”

This source added, “There was a lot of back and forth for a couple of months.”

Of note, Gibson had indicated back in January he planned to use Caviezel again and even potentially other cast members. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience he said, ““You use him, again.”

Rogan then interjected, “Caviezel.”

Gibson confirmed, “I know it’s 20 years later. It’s supposed to be three days later, but he got 20 years older. I think I have to use a few techniques that they’ve started to get really good… You can actually get some of the same people.”

As for what to expect from the film, Gibson shared with Rogan that it will include the fall of the angels and Christ’s descent to hell.

He said, “I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which is you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go Hell. You need to go to Sheol.”

Rogan then asked, “So you’re going to have Hell? You’re going to have Satan all that?”

Gibson responded, “Yeah. Sure. You got to have his origin.”

When asked how he would depict it, he said, “This is a good question and I think I have ideas about how to do that and ideas about how to evoke things and emotions in people from the way you depict it and the way you shoot it. So I’ve been thinking about it for a long term. It’s not going to be easy and it’s going to require a lot of planning and I’m not wholly sure I can pull it off to tell you the truth, it’s really super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it. ‘Cause that’s what you got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?”

“I think I can get it,” he added. “But it’s not about me. It’s about something else.”

Gibson later stated, “It’s about trying to find the way in that’s not like cheesy or obvious, but actually-. It’s almost like a magic trick in a sense. It’s diversion. It’s obfuscate this, show that. Look over here.”

He then shared, “It’s very ambitious. That’s all I’ll say. It took a long time to write. It’s really ambitious and it goes from the fall of the angels to the death of the last Apostle.”

The film is being released in two parts. Lionsgate announced on August 5th that Part One will release on Good Friday on March 26, 2027. The second part will arrive on Ascension Day on May 6, 2027.

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