When veteran writer and producer René Echevarria began working on a new show featuring women of the Bible, he knew the project was an answer to prayer.
"'God, use me,' that was my prayer," Echevarria, executive producer of "The Faithful: Women of the Bible," said. "If it pleases you, use me to tell your story."
Echevarria, a Catholic best known for his work on "Star Trek," spoke with OSV News about "The Faithful" ahead of its premiere on FOX March 22.
The drama series promises to bring the Bible to life through the eyes of five Old Testament matriarchs: Sarah (Minnie Driver) and her servant Hagar (Natacha Karam), Sarah's great-niece Rebekah (Alexa Davalos), and Rebekah's nieces, sisters Leah (Millie Brady) and Rachel (Blu Hunt). The show presents these interconnected women as people who are both courageous and imperfect as they navigate love, marriage, motherhood, temptation and faith.
The three-part series airs weekly on FOX beginning March 22 and concludes on Easter April 5. The show, which was filmed in Rome and Matera, Italy, will also be available for streaming on Hulu the day after airing.
In addition to Echevarria, Carol Mendelsohn ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") and Julie Weitz ("Game of Silence") serve as executive producers.
An exercise in faith
Echevarria, who also penned the pilot and serves as showrunner, brings a wealth of experience to "The Faithful," from his work on "Star Trek" to collaborations with James Cameron ("Dark Angel"), Steven Spielberg ("Terra Nova") and Guillermo del Toro ("Carnival Row"). He became involved with "The Faithful" after deciding a few years ago that he wanted his next project to be faith based.
"When I made the decision to try to do ... something God-honoring, I turned down some opportunities," Echevarria told OSV News. "Hollywood is fickle and can be kind of tough, so it was a faith exercise for me."
A couple of years passed before Echevarria's agent connected Echevarria and Mendelsohn, another executive producer, after Mendelsohn expressed a desire to work on a project about the women of the Bible. Echevarria said he jumped at the opportunity.
A show tied to the Bible
To create this series, Echevarria said the filmmakers drew from the Bible and consulted with Christian and Jewish experts. They decided that if they were going to dramatize a scene in the Bible, they would stick to what the Bible says happened, he said. Sometimes that meant including verbatim dialogue.
"Even when we're reading between the lines and creatively imagining how to connect the dots, we were always careful to create a space where whatever happened, you could still imagine, 'Oh, OK, that happened,'" he said.
The filmmakers also wanted to introduce these biblical matriarchs as real people. Echevarria remembered following a particular piece of advice from Mendelsohn.
"As I went off to write the first draft, she said, 'René, write them like they don't know they're Bible characters,'" he said. "That became a thing. We said to the other writers and even to the actors, to play this like you don't know you're a Bible character."
"I hope it feels relatable and human," he added. "That was our ambition."
Along the way, the filmmakers sought the input of two consultants: Rabbi Wendy Zierler, a professor at Hebrew Union College in New York City, and Christian theologian Russell Moore. Echevarria called it gratifying when both consultants signed off on some of the filmmakers' larger choices.
"In a sermon, you can say, 'Well, some scholars say this, and some scholars say that,'" he said. "We had to make choices."
A Catholic background
As a Catholic, Echevarria said that Catholics have room to grow when it comes to reading the Bible. He attended a Catholic high school and, like his children, a Catholic grade school.
"I went to St. Jude's in St. Petersburg, Florida," he said, "and my kids went to St. Jude's in Westlake Village, California."
He shared that his youngest is in the process of getting the sacrament of confirmation. Today, his children currently attend a non-denominational Christian high school since there is no local Catholic high school.
"I have to take my hat off to them for Bible study," Echevarria said of the school. "It's been fascinating for me to see that and appreciate that."
A personal impact on faith
While the show filmed in Rome, Echevarria embraced his Catholic faith and remembered attending Mass in ancient churches in that city.
"One of the blessings of the Church is that it's still Mass," he said of attending Mass in a different language. "Even though you can't understand it, you know what's being said -- and you can participate wherever you are in the world."
A special message from 'Women in the Bible'
As the show prepares to premiere, Echevarria hoped viewers took away a larger message of God's goodness.
"These are flawed women, and they make mistakes -- at times they're quite noble and heroic, at times they stumble," he said. "But God makes good of all of it."
He pointed to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and her relationship with her slave, Hagar, as an example. The show's first episode tells the story found in Genesis of how Sarah, who struggles with infertility, gives Hagar to Abraham, so that Hagar might bear him a child. Hagar becomes pregnant with Ishmael.
"Sarah kind of loses faith that God's going to keep his promise of a child to her, so she takes the matters into her own hands, and Ishmael is brought into the world," Echevarria said. "And yet (God) made good of that."
"God blessed him as well," he added. "God always makes good of even our faithlessness and our mistakes."
