Chipo Chung thought she knew Mary Magdalene.
She had read the Gospels while attending a Catholic high school and seen Renaissance artwork depicting Mary Magdalene. She had even played that role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
But as she prepared to portray Mary Magdalene in NBC’s “A.D. The Bible Continues,” Chung discovered that she didn’t know the biblical woman as well as she thought.
“In most movies, she’s depicted as this fallen woman, and that’s what she was depicted as in art for thousands of years, so that’s who I thought she was,” Chung said in a recent interview with the Deseret News. “But she isn’t that. She’s a really key disciple and a real leader amongst men, is what I discovered when you get the little bits of the Bible where she’s mentioned.”
Chung, who identifies herself with Christianity, didn’t take the opportunity to play such a well-known figure lightly.
“She was the first witness of the Resurrection, which means she was very important to Jesus,” Chung said. “That is obviously a story that’s so important to people of faith that you want to get it right.”
Chung spent hours researching and immersing herself the life of Mary Magdalene in order to craft a portrayal that felt “right” to her. The result is a Mary Magdalene she described as a constant, strong, courageous and faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And along the way, Chung said, she’s come to see Jesus Christ as a champion of women.
“I think what was astounding back in that day was that Jesus chose a woman to be the first witness (of the Resurrection),” she said. “They lived in a world that was very patriarchal, whereas Jesus always supported the poor and the oppressed, and women are often oppressed, and so he saw women as spiritually equal.”
Reviews and commentaries about the series have made mention of how “A.D.” creators have amplified the roles of the women in the story beyond what is explicitly written in the Bible, including expanded portrayals of Mary Magdalene as well as Mary, the mother of Jesus.
“(Mary Magdalene) and other women supported the disciples from their own means, and you’re going to see that in the series, how we interpret that,” said Chung, adding that Mary Magdalene’s role “grows as the series continues.”
“The story is something you’ve never seen before, both that people don’t really know Acts that well but also that there is some creativity,” Chung said. “… So it’s a prize and a treat what happens next.”
Among the things Chung said to look forward to as the series continues are the miracles that are portrayed, which had a deeper impact on her.
“That really taught me to see the miracles in my own life, even if they’re little miracles, little synchronicities where you feel that kind of oneness,” she said.
While Chung looks forward to audiences seeing the continued progression of the series, she said the second episode of the series, titled “The Body is Gone,” sticks out in her mind. It contains the scene in which Mary Magdalene sees the resurrected Jesus Christ.
“I think (the Resurrection is) really important on a personal level for all of us because we all go through phases where phases of our lives die and are reborn again and hopefully reborn brighter and better,” she said.
Chung believes the value of the series lies in viewers finding personal connections to the story shown in “A.D.”
“I think it’s very rare on network television that we get to think about the meaning of our lives,” she said.
If you watch …
What: “A.D. The Bible Continues”
When: Sundays, 8 p.m.
Channel: NBC-Ch. 5
Email: wbutters@deseretnews.com, Twitter: WhitneyButters