THE MESSENGERS: Cast and Creators Tease New Apocalypse Thriller at WonderCon

From Coillider: 

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Today at WonderCon, the cast and creators of The CW’s new supernatural drama,The Messengers, took the stage to screen the pilot and tease what audiences can expect from the new take on the biblical rapture. Executive producer Trey Callaway(Revolution), co-executive producer/creator Eoghan O’Donnell (Teen Wolf), and cast members Shantel VanSanten (One Tree Hill), Jon Fletcher (City of Dreams), J. D. Pardo (Revolution), Joel Courtney (Super 8), Diogo Morgado (Son of God),Anna Diop (Everybody Hates Chris), and Craig Frank (Mixology) offered some insight into the first season and the tough road ahead for the Angels of the Apocalypse.

Check out our thoughts on the pilot and the full panel recap below.

The Pilot

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Image via CW

Angels! Angst! Abs! The CW’s latest sexy drama centers on a group of five disparate souls, chosen to stand for humanity in the biblical apocalypse. When an extraterrestrial object impacts with the earth, sending out a massive shock wave, a scientist (VanSanten), a high school athlete (Courtney), a single mother (Black-D’Elia), an undercover agent (Pardo), and a televangelist (Fletcher) all fall to the ground, dead. Minutes later they come back to life, each with a unique power and a mean set of angel wings only seen in reflections. Oh, and that extraterrestrial object that hit the earth? None other than Satan (Morgado). The group of strangers all find themselves drawn to Houston, Texas where Rose (Diop), a woman of great, but unknown, importance lies in a coma.

It’s a solid pilot. I walked into the room with no expectations and was genuinely sucked in by the end. There are moments, particularly in the high school-set scenes, which read poorly or have an extreme cheese factor, but overall it’s an engaging script with a promising mythology. And Craig Frank knocks it out of the park as the comedic relief. I’ll certainly be tuning in for the second episode to see where the story goes from here.

The Panel

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    Image via The CW

    Series creator, Eoghan O’Donnell, has always been interested in apocalyptic stories because they force you to strip away what’s extraneous and focus on what’s important.

  • The basic premise of the show revolves around the idea that humanity is being tested through the group of messengers. The show centers on choices, good and bad, right and wrong, and how those crossroad moments affect everything and everybody around us.
  • The Satan character, played by Diogo Morgado is a part of that test. He knows all the characters’ weaknesses and desires, and uses that against them to try to persuade them from the righteous path.
  • While the series uses the Christian book of Revelation as a base for the mythology, but it’s not a religious show. All the characters come from different faiths and backgrounds. The show is about putting your different beliefs aside and uniting for a bigger cause.
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    Image via The CW

    Likewise, the series writers come from a number of different faiths, offering unique and diverse input on the story.

  • O’Donnell noted that all the world’s major religions include an apocalyptic end to the world – including science, which foresees an inevitable end to life on earth
    Rose, who spends all but the first scene of the pilot in a coma, will become a major player in the series. The series asks the question – if you could save mankind, would you? Rose encourages the messengers to do so. 
  • Each of the characters is endowed with a unique supernatural power after they are revived, including healing, telepathy, and super strength. The characters will come to find that those abilities can be a gift or a curse.
  • The goal of the first season is to make all the characters aware of each other, unite them and get them all on the same page. They will be informed of the mission set to them, and the rest of the story will see them deciding whether or not to fulfill that mission.
Joel Courtney