Have you found Jesus yet? If not, don’t worry, he’ll soon be appearing everywhere. According to Deadline, Fox is developing an “event series” called Nazareth that will follow Jesus’ formative years. Gladiator’s David Franzoni will write and executive produce alongside Stargate’s Robert Cooper. Like the best fan fiction, Nazareth will explore a time for which there is very little canonical material, as—from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem at age 13 to his baptism and ministry at age 30—Jesus basically falls off the map when it comes to The Bible. And those “lost years” have proved especially fertile for writers looking to put their own spin on the Jesus tale. In recent months, Lifetime has put its own “lost years,” coming-of-age story in development, while the History Channel was considering reimagining a young Jesus as a traveling exorcist.
And of course, those projects are just the tip of the Jesus iceberg. In addition to today’s news that the Ben-Hur remake would get even more Jesus-y with the help of The Bible’s Mark Burnett and Roma Downey—who arguably sparked this Jesus craze in the first place—there’s also NBC’s follow-up to that series, A.D., the sword-wielding Jesus of The Resurrection, a “humanistic” Jesus in Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth, and even another six-hour miniseries called Jesus Of Nazareth in the works. (And that’s to say nothing of all the other biblical projects, including Ridley Scott’s Exodus, Will Smith’s Cain and Abel project, and a Pontius Pilate movie.) It seems each day brings us closer and closer to a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar. After all, we’ve yet to answer the immortal question: “Do you think you’re what they say you are?”