Watch: The first episode of digital talk show Beyond A.D.

NBC posted the first episode of Beyond A.D. this morning. Running 39 minutes, the talk show features producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (and NFL superstar Kurt Warner, for some reason) discussing the first episode of A.D. The Bible Continues, which aired last week, and the second episode, which airs tonight. It also features a musical performance by Israel Houghton. Check it out below the jump.

Here is the episode itself (you can also watch it on Facebook):

A few highlights:

• Burnett discusses how the early Christians will gradually realize they don’t need to worship God in the Temple any more (c. the 13-minute mark).
• Downey says the series will focus more on the role of women in the early Church (c. the 18-minute mark).
• Burnett and Downey say they cast more black actors as the disciples so that American audiences could “see themselves” (c. the 20-minute mark).
• Burnett says the Ascension, in tonight’s episode, will be attended by an army of angels as a foretelling of the Second Coming, when Jesus will return with his army of angels (c. the 22-minute mark).
• Burnett confirms that Pontius Pilate will actually meet the emperor Tiberius and his future successor Caligula in this series, and he says “these people are out of their minds” (c. the 23-minute mark).
• A new clip from tonight’s episode (c. the 28-minute mark).

Houghton’s musical performance has also been posted as a standalone clip:

And for more information about Lonyo Engele’s “angelic” connections, check out this clip that was posted when The Bible premiered two years ago:

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here (though be warned: it appears that the network has taken some of the trailers and TV spots offline already):

• The first trailer (November 26, 2014)
• The ‘By Our Love’ music video (December 19, 2014)
• The ‘The Next Chapter of the Greatest Story Ever Told’ TV spot (January 12, 2015)
• The second trailer (January 17, 2015)
• The Super Bowl spot (February 1, 2015)
• The Newsboys’ ‘We Believe’ music video (February 10, 2015)
• The ‘First Look’ video (February 18, 2015)
• The ‘Special Preview’ video (February 24, 2015)
• The ‘Miracles’ clip, the ‘Igniting a Rebellion’, ‘He’s a Dangerous Man’ and ‘Power, Passion, Sacrifice and Glory’ previews, the Spanish trailer, the ‘33 Days’ video and the WNDU and KPRC interviews (March 10, 2015)
• The ‘On Location’ featurette and the WWLP and Entertainment Tonight interviews (March 16, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary’, ‘Peter’, ‘John’ and ‘Mary Magdalene’ sneak peeks, the EPK materials, the ‘The Next Chapter of the Greatest Story Ever Told’ and ‘Beyond A.D. with Jason Kennedy’ previews, and the Tony Evans, Geoff Tunnicliffe, O.S. Hawkins and Joel C. Hunter endorsements (March 20, 2015)
• The half-hour making-of special, the ‘Caiaphas’ and ‘Pilate’ sneak peeks, the Today show set visit, the Zap2it interview, the Roma Downey video on prayer for Guideposts, the Jefferson Bethke and ‘Faith Raves’ videos, and the Sam Rodriguez, Pat Robertson, Ronnie Floyd and Jim Daly endorsements (March 25, 2015)
• The extended and ‘Stay with Me’ trailers, two previews, the Tonight Show interview, the ‘Peter’, ‘John’, ‘Mary Magdalene’, ‘Mother Mary’, ‘Caiaphas’ and ‘Pilate’ character profiles, and the Bishop T.D. Jakes, Robby Dawkins, Matthew Barnett, Danilo Montero, Mark Jobe, Ron Luce, Mark Batterson, Gabriel Salguero, Rick Warren, Cardinal Wuerl and Joel Osteen endorsements (April 4, 2015)
• The Episode 1 recap, the ‘Condemned and Crucified’, ‘Escaping Jerusalem’ and ‘Jesus Reunites with His Apostles’ clips, the ‘The Resurrection of Jesus’ preview, and the ‘Jesus’ character profile (April 6, 2015)
• Two Beyond A.D. previews, the ‘Episode 2’ preview, the ‘Watch Sunday’s Number One Show!’ preview, and the Juan Pablo Di Pace, Greta Scacchi, Adam Levy, Chipo Chung, Babou Ceesay, Denver Isaac, Pedro Lloyd Gardiner, Fraser Ayres, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Richard Coyle, Vincent Regan, Mark Burnett & Roma Downey and Luciano Capozzi interviews (April 10, 2015)