Watch: Three new TV spots for Of Kings and Prophets

It’s New Testament time at the movie theatre these days, but on television the focus is decidedly Old Testament. And with only two weeks to go until the premiere of Of Kings and Prophets, we’re starting to see more stories and promos about the series.

Of Kings and Prophets is big news in South Africa, which is where the series is being shot, and where the producers have built one of the country’s biggest TV sets ever. Ten days ago, I linked to a couple of stories on the role the series is playing within that country’s film industry, and now there’s this, via Business Day Live:

The series is being filmed at two Western Cape locations — interior scenes on sets built in an old brandy warehouse in Stellenbosch, and the city of Gibeah — the Israelites’ pre-Jerusalem capital — on the Durbanville hillside.

“It’s one of the biggest productions ever for SA,” says production designer Johnny Breedt, a South African who worked on the film adaptation of Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom. “It’s by far one of the biggest sets built in SA, and it’s all built by South Africans,” he says of Gibeah.

The story also notes that costume supervisor Stephen O’Rawe used to work on Game of Thrones, and it quotes a colleague to the effect that “he’s never going back.”

Meanwhile, the network has released a new 30-second TV spot …

Witness the rise of a hero. #OfKingsAndProphets https://t.co/ER1GeGgZc1

— Of Kings & Prophets (@KingsProphets) February 20, 2016

… as well as a new 15-second TV spot:

A hero will rise. #OfKingsAndProphets premieres Tuesday, March 8 on ABC.https://t.co/64AORHqDxz

— Of Kings & Prophets (@KingsProphets) February 18, 2016

The network has also released some video clips that are more like banner ads.

The one below suggests that King Saul (Ray Winstone) will be conflicted about the violence he commits — though it’s questionable whether the biblical Saul would have worried about this so much; if anything, he was miffed that the Israelites were praising David for slaughtering more enemies than Saul had (I Samuel 18:7-8):

A king grapples with his destiny. The epic series #OfKingsAndProphets premieres Tuesday, March 8 on ABC.https://t.co/lCK1g13EgW

— Of Kings & Prophets (@KingsProphets) February 20, 2016

The series premieres March 8 on the ABC network.

February 24 update: More South-African-film-industry coverage in relation to this series has surfaced at KFTV, SouthAfrica.info and the Cape Business News.

Check out earlier Of Kings & Prophets trailers and other videos here:

• The trailer for the original pilot episode (May 12, 2015)
• The ‘Legend’ promo (January 6, 2016)
• The ‘New Extended Trailer’ and ‘Series Premiere’ trailers (January 29, 2016)
• The ‘A Hero Will Rise’ TV spot (February 2, 2016)
• The ‘A destiny will be uncovered’, ‘A hero has been chosen’, ‘Warrior. Lover. Legend.’, ‘Conquer everything. Trust no one.’ and ‘A hero’s journey is beginning’ TV spots (February 10, 2016)