Watch: Saul persecutes the Christians, and Tiberius comes to Jerusalem, in new clips from A.D. The Bible Continues

A.D. The Bible Continues slipped again in the ratings last night.

The sixth episode of the NBC series got a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic (down from 1.1 last week) and only 4.5 million viewers overall (down from 5.5 million).

The series had 9.5 million viewers when it premiered five weeks ago and it has been shedding viewers ever since. Its predecessor, The Bible, got between 10 and 13 million viewers per episode when it aired on the History Channel two years ago.

It’s too early at this point to say what effect ratings like these will have on the series’ future. Yesterday, a report on NBC’s primetime schedule for next year said the fate of A.D. will be decided after the first season comes to an end on June 21.

Last night’s episode was a significant one, as it gave us our first full introduction to Saul, the persecutor of the Church who will one day switch sides and, under the name Paul, become one of the Church’s greatest evangelists.

Shortly after the episode aired, the network released this clip of Saul in action:

Today, the network also released a clip from next week’s episode, in which Saul tracks down Peter’s daughter Maya and leaves a menacing message for her father:

The network also released this clip of Pilate and Caiaphas fretting over the (incredibly unhistorical) news that the emperor Tiberius is about to visit Jerusalem:

You can get a glimpse of Tiberius’s arrival itself in this 14-second preview:

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here (though be warned: it appears that the network has taken some of the trailers and clips 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)
• The first episode of Beyond A.D. (April 12, 2015)
• The Episode 2 recap, the ‘The Ascension of Jesus’, ‘Who Does Jerusalem Belong to’ and ‘Tensions Flare at the Temple’ clips, and the ‘The Strength of Belief’ preview (April 13, 2015)
• The ‘The Holy Spirit’ clip, three Episode 3 previews, the James Callis, Claire Cooper, Jim Sturgeon, Farzana Dua Elahe, Marama Corlett and Jodhi May interviews, and a Beyond A.D. preview (April 17, 2015)
• The second episode of Beyond A.D. (April 19, 2015)
• The Episode 3 recap, the ‘A Miracle of Healing Begets Arrest’ clip, and the ‘The Romans Crack Down’ preview (April 20, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary Comforts Peter’ and ‘Peter Motivates the New Followers’ clips, and a Beyond A.D. preview (April 24, 2015)
• The third episode of Beyond A.D. (April 26, 2015)
• The Episode 4 recap, the ‘The Consequences of Showing No Mercy’, ‘Caiaphas Seeks an Assassin’ and ‘Cornelius Metes the Assassin’s Fate’ clips, and the ‘The Great Change Is Coming’ preview (April 27, 2015)
• The angelic jailbreak clip (April 28, 2015)
• The ‘Mother Mary Preaches the Faith’, ‘Gamaliel Stands Up for the Apostles’ and ‘Stephen Stands Up for God’ clips, and a Beyond A.D. preview (May 1, 2015)
• The fourth episode of Beyond A.D. (May 3, 2015)
• The Episode 5 recap, the ‘The Unjust Punishment of Righteous Men’ clip, and the ‘Power vs. Faith’ preview (May 4, 2015)
• The ‘Saul Confronts Peter’, ‘Battle of the Preachers’, ‘We Must Build the Church’, ‘Holiday Tension’ and ‘Caiaphas Confronts the Rumor Mill’ clips, a Beyond A.D. preview and the ‘Happy Mother’s Day – Call Your Mom!’ video (May 8, 2015)
• The fifth episode of Beyond A.D. (May 10, 2015)