A strange occurrence in the New Mexico desert stops the hearts of five strangers, then resurrects them again — as Earth-bound angels. Not the white-robed, harp-toting kind. The “oracles of the apocalypse” kind, in Everyman clothing.
As these unwitting emissaries — a scientist, a single mom, a bullied student, an FBI agent and a televangelist — come to grips with extraordinary new powers and how they got them, their lives begin to intersect with one another’s and that of a mysterious figure known only as “The Man” (Diogo Morgado).
Meet The CW’s The Messengers.
“If Close Encounters and The Stand got married in a church and had a baby, it would be The Messengers,” says executive producer Trey Callaway of his and co-executive producer Eoghan O’Donnell’s favorite way to describe their new drama. “Tonally, that’s what we’re after.”
Bible-story sticklers, you have been warned. Callaway and O’Donnell aim for a more accessible version of the “good versus evil” story found in the Bible’s book of Revelation. “It’s critical to our storytelling that we keep these people very grounded and very human,” Callaway explains. “We will not be putting a harp in these people’s hands and having them flit about with their wings. This is a very human, very grounded spin on an ‘angel of the apocalypse’ tale.”
Morgado, who played Jesus in History Channel’s Emmy-nominated miniseries The Bible, says he found the opportunity to play “The Man” an irresistible follow-up. “Playing one of the most important and most criticized and most adored and worshipped figures of mankind as Jesus was one of the most fascinating and amazing experiences of my life,” he says. “Now I’m playing the opposite of that. I couldn’t wish for something more interesting and challenging as an actor.”
And challenging viewers’ perspectives about what is meaningful in our day-to-day existence is what Callaway and O’Donnell aim to do.
“It’s about finding hope in these people’s lives and the way they interact with each other that really makes the show satisfying to watch at the end of the day,” says Callaway.
The Messengers premieres Friday April 17 on The CW.
