This year, The History Channel landed a ratings hit with the miniseries The Bible—a 10 part look at scripture from producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Now, the network has decided to revisit the life of Christ in a new series—this one, produced by two horror movie directors with no basis in actual history. The network is reportedly in talks with Eli Roth (known for the torture-focused Hostel franchise) and Eric Newman (the producer behind films including The Last Exorcism, The Thing and Dawn of the Dead), to develop a new series called The Lost Years, which imagines the unrecorded years of Jesus’ life, before he entered into ministry at the age of 30. According to Deadline, “The Lost Years was conceived in the horror genre, and it explores a theory about Jesus’ origins as an exorcist.” Obviously, this is a risky move for The History Channel. Considering the series would be based on fiction and speculation and would likely isolate much of the new audience it gained through The Bible miniseries, it’ll probably be a tough sell to Christian viewers …
