Report: Jim Caviezel And Monica Belluci Will Not Reprise Roles In Mel Gibson's 'The Resurrection Of The Christ'

A new report alleges that actor Jim Caviezel and Monica Belluci will not reprise their roles in Mel Gibson’s upcoming The Resurrection of the Christ film.

Page Six originally reported that neither would return. The site’s Carlos Greer reported, “Jim Caviezel won’t return as Jesus, and Monica Bellucci won’t be back as Mary Magdalene in The Resurrection of the Christ, we hear.”

Greer added a source informed him, “They’re [currently] meeting with actors [in Rome].”

Another source shared that Caviezel and Bellucci 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.”

This report was allegedly confirmed by Deadline and author Glenn Garner who reported, “Deadline can confirm that Jim Caviezel and Monica Bellucci will not reprise their role in the sequel, which is currently casting their replacements in Rome.”

Mel Gibson had repeatedly indicated that Caviezel would reprise his role as Jesus Christ. Most recently during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in January, Gibson 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.”

In April, Caviezel also indicated he would return to the role during an appearance on The Arroyo Grande show.

When asked how he was preparing to return for the role, Caviezel said, “Now I get these bonus years and I had no idea [during the original film]. At the time, after I was done, it was done. But around 2013, was the beginning on. On February 20th, we were at Disneyland. It was my son’s birthday. The feast day of Jacinta and Francisco and he came to me and he showed me that there’s another one and it’s coming. And this was in 2013.”

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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