FOX Entertainment is going all in on the Bible, launching its ambitious "The Faithful: Women of the Bible" series on Sunday, March 22. The series, starring Minnie Driver, Natacha Karam, Jeffrey Donovan, Tom Payne, Millie Brady, and Blu Hunt, aims to present some of the Old Testament's most familiar stories through the lens of the women who experienced them, executive producers Julie Weitz and Rene Echevarria said in a recent discussion about the series.

The series traces a genealogical arc beginning with Sarah and Abraham and follows "the generations unfold," Weitz said. The producers describe the project as both a fresh adaptation of scripture and an effort to dramatize "stories that had not been told" from a woman's perspective.

"It's been a passion project for all of us individually for a very long time," Weitz said. She noted that the creative team treated the Bible as the roadmap and supplemented the sparse textual detail about many biblical women with historical research and expert consultation.

Weitz, who called herself an "armchair theologian," said the inspiration for the series came from reading through the familiar stories and imagining a new look.

"I did study in Hebrew school for many, many years, and we kind of had this epiphany that there's a point of view that has not been really looked at, which were the women and how and how they were essential to the stories that most people know about," she said. "(Their stories) were also timeless and relevant, relatable, and human."

Even though the women profiled in the series have their place in the Bible stories, drama had to be added in order to flesh out the production for viewers.

"If it is expressly stated in the Bible that that is our roadmap, where it's not, we obviously have to imagine a bit. This is television," she said. Still, she emphasized that the series aimed to remain "original but legitimate," creating a world that felt "true and real."

The show's three feature-length episodes examine the lives of Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel, each rendered as a thematic journey.

"For the first two hours, for Sarah, it's a journey of faith, and for Hagar, it's a journey of freedom," Weitz said. "In between those two, it's a story of surrogacy," she added, pointing to the modern resonances that drew the creative team to the source material.

Echevarria, a veteran writer-producer whose credits include "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Dark Angel," and "Carnival Row," said his approach was shaped by both personal faith and a long-standing interest in world-building for television.

"This show has been such a blessing," he said, describing how the project came to him through professional and personal networks. He called the experience of getting to "study God's Word as part of my business" an incredible opportunity.

Rene's faith journey has informed both his professional choices and the series' focus. He had told his agent years earlier that he wanted to work on faith-based material, and that spark eventually resurfaced in a project that became "Faithful."

The collaboration with Jewish, Christian and secular colleagues enriched the process of interpreting scripture for a contemporary television audience.

"I come from a Christian background," he said. "Julie comes from a Jewish background, as she was just sharing, and (producer) Carol Mendelsohn's a little more secular. But he is a great storyteller, and some of these stories were new to her, and she would just be like, 'Okay, guys, make this make sense.'"

Biblical figures, he added, are often remembered for faith, but their paths were complex and, at times, contradictory. Citing Hebrews 11 — which praises biblical figures for their faith even amid doubt and failure — Echevarria said the show strives to acknowledge those tensions rather than flatten them.

"These women are remembered for their great faith, but it was a journey," he said. "Sarah struggled. She said, 'Yes,' when Abraham said, 'Let's go.' But she kind of lost faith in God's plan and tried to take things into her own hands."

Weitz explained that production values reflect that mission. Much of the series was shot on location outside Rome, with sets built "from the ground up from dirt," she said—costume, music and production design aimed for historical texture rather than modern sensibilities. Composer Ben Wallfisch, she added, "loves kind of ancient instrumentation" and brought that weight to the score.

Echevarria praised the depth of historical expertise the production drew on in Italy.

"Our production designer, Tiziana, dug into this with such enthusiasm. It happens she has her sister, who is an archeologist, so she had this direct line to someone she could just call and say, 'What does the pottery look like?'" he said. The choice to film in Rome, he added, provided access to crews seasoned in historical drama and lent a "gravitas" the producers found invaluable.

The project also fits within a renewed media interest in faith-oriented storytelling. Echevarria pointed to the crowdfunded success of "The Chosen" and the continuing appetite for biblical stories such as "House of David" that can be explored in long-form television.

"There's a hunger out there," he said. "' The Chosen' brought that arena into that modern type of television storytelling and proved that it was possible."

Both producers expressed hope that "The Faithful" will encourage viewers to re-examine the biblical texts for themselves.

"If this gets anybody to go over to their bookshelf and say, 'Did that really happen in the Bible,' and pull off a dusty old Bible and crack it open and see for themselves? That would mean a lot to me," Echevarria said.

"We wanted it to feel original but legitimate," Weitz said. "When you were immersed in the world. It felt true and real." The series' three-part arc will attempt to balance that fidelity with narrative invention, inviting audiences to engage with scripture as a source of human drama and spiritual complexity.

"The Faithful: Women of the Bible" premiered March 22 on FOX Television with its first two episodes focused on Sarah and Hagar, starring Minnie Driver and Natacha Karam, called "The Woman Who Bowed to No One/The Woman Who Spoke to God." It will continue for the next two Sunday nights and finish on Easter Sunday.