Mel Gibson Confirms Sequel to ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ Says 'I Regard the Gospels as History'

Filmmaker Mel Gibson confirmed in an interview with Joe Rogan this week he's working on a sequel to his 2004 blockbuster movie The Passion of the Christ and that he hopes to begin filming it in 2026. In a wide-ranging interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Gibson said the film will be titled The Resurrection of the Christ and will examine the cosmic battle of good and evil. He, his brother, and screenwriter Randall Wallace collaborated on the script. 

The sequel will include Jesus rising from the dead, though the plot will not be "linear," he said.

"So there's some good heads put together, but there's some crazy stuff," Gibson said. "And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you're in another place, you're in another realm. You need to go to hell."

The Resurrection of the Christ will include well-known events in the gospels but will be placed "in a framework where you answer a few other questions as well," he said.

"Do you believe that was a real event?" Rogan asked Gibson of the resurrection.

"Yeah, I do," Gibson answered. 

The Bible, Gibson said, is true.

"I regard the Gospels as history," Gibson said. "It's verifiable history. Some people say, 'Well, it's a fairy tale. He never existed' -- but He did. And there are other accounts, verifiable historical accounts, outside the biblical ones, that also bear this up that yes, He did exist. And the other aspect of that is that all the evangelists, the apostles, who went out there, every single one of those guys died rather than deny their belief, and nobody dies for a lie. Nobody. So that's part of what I'm doing -- is showing nobody dies for a lie."

The resurrection, Rogan told Gibson, is a challenging concept for many non-Christians.

"The resurrection is the one that is the most difficult for people to swallow," Rogan said. "That's the one that requires the most faith."

Gibson said Christianity is different from other religions.

"Who gets back up three days later after He gets murdered in public, who gets back up under His own power? Buddha didn't do that s---," said Gibson, known for his bluntness.

Gibson came to faith as a child, he said, "but as I got older, I came to it through intellect and through reading."

His film The Passion of the Christ, he said, was deeply personal.

"The idea was that we're all responsible for this, that His sacrifice was for all mankind," Gibson said of Christ's death on the cross. 

"I was born into a Catholic family," he added. "I'm very Christian in my beliefs, you know. So I do actually believe this stuff to the full. So depicting that was an honor."

Photo Credit: ©X/The Blaze

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

Originally published January 10, 2025.