“The Messengers” is about big ideas and big battles, but at the core of it is six or seven disparate characters who may hold the fate of the world in their hands.
And there is also a very strong sci-fi element with religious undertones. The action is kicked off by a group of strangers being killed and then brought back to life with mysterious superpowers, soon discovering that they have been chosen for a reason.
It’s an element showrunners and stars aren’t shying away from.
“It’s basically the Book of Revelations,” Sofia Black D’Elia, who plays Erin, a single mother, on the show, told TheWrap. “It’s those tales being told on television, which is insanely cool because it doesn’t happen often and it’s a risk.”
Erin wakes up with healing powers and is able to save herself and her daughter from a catastrophic car accident, while other characters, like Shantel VanSanten‘s Vera, Joel Courtney’s Peter and Jon Fletcher’s Joshua, who do not yet find out what their new powers are or what their purpose is.
Then there is a mysterious character called The Man, played by Diogo Morgado, who crash lands, seemingly from space, atop a meteor. Did his arrival cause the other characters to receive their calling?
Ahead of the show’s series premiere, here’s five things TheWrap learned from D’Elia, Morgado and showrunner Trey Callaway.
1. It’s a battle between good and evil. But who’s good and who’s evil isn’t so clear.
At first glimpse, Morgado’s character The Man seems to be the series’ big bad villain. But he doesn’t see it that way and teases shades of grey in the coming episodes.
“He’s definitely mysterious and dark, but his intentions towards the messengers and his intentions towards the apocalypse … I think it’ll be interesting to see that nothing is random, everything has a purpose,” he said. “The first impression we have is that he just wants to kill someone because he’s bad, but there’s a reason he wants to kill that person, and it’s not random.”
2. Answers will start coming quickly.
The pilot episode of “The Messengers” is big on questions, but not on answers. That will change quickly, however, according to D’Elia, and it will happen organically.
“When something insane like that happens to you, your first instinct is to go out and figure out what the hell just happened,” she said. And that’s what they do. “So all of these characters feel very confused and shocked by what’s going on inside of them and pretty quickly they start to find answers or at least look for them.”
3. There’s still room for human connections.
The Messgeners are brought together in ways to achieve maximum conflict, but that doesn’t mean chemistry and romance goes out the window.
For D’Elia’s character, she crosses paths with JD Pardo’s Raul under rather extenuating circumstances.
“It is The CW. What would The CW be without a sexy dude and a girl getting it on?” she joked about whether the characters might head towards romance. “I think they have chemistry. Both of them are not in a place to be pursuing that at all, but whether they do or not is part of the first season. The chemistry is definitely there.”
Even for the mysterious Man, romance is not out of the question.
“There’s place to manipulate mankind in any way possible,” he teased.
4. It’s heavily religion-based, but …
“The Messengers” is ostensibly about angels chosen by God to battle evil forces, but it’s got so much going for it, viewers would not have to relate to the religious elements in order to enjoy the show at all.
“It makes it completely unnecessary for you to know anything about the Book of Revelations,” said Callaway. “You don’t have to believe in God. Whatever your viewpoint may be on it … We’re not here to preach, we’re here to entertain. It’s sexy, it’s romantic, it’s dark, it’s frightening. Beyond all of that, it’s got this hope at its core.”
5. It’s leading to all-out war.
The show starts out with six or seven main characters, but they will apparently be gathering more follows — for both sides — as the season moves on. At least enough for an all out war between the forces of good and evil.
“By the end of the first season, we are going to have literally, a battle. When I say literally, I mean literally a battle between good and evil,” teased Morgado.
“The Messengers” airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.