Paul Syrstad knows it’s a bold move to reimagine the book of Acts in a gritty, alternate version of the modern world. He also knows it hasn’t been done before.
“It’s the first of its kind,” the 33-year-old director told The Christian Post. “It is bold. It is quite an out-there choice. But I think that’s what we need.”
In “Testament,” which premiered June 8 on the Angel Studios app, the director behind “The Parables Retold” sets the early Christian movement not in first-century Jerusalem, but in “Salem,” a dystopian society under imperial rule, complete with cars, trains and an absence of smartphones or social media.
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According to the U.K. native, it’s “an alternate modern day” — analog by design.
“You can’t tell the same story that’s found in the book of Acts within the digital revolution,” he said. “Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians would become his first draft email that’s been forwarded many times. It doesn’t have the same thing to it. Plus, the kind of threat level of the analog — having to carry something physical across landscapes — that gets lost.”
That storytelling choice was both spiritual and practical, Syrstad said, adding: “We started making short films, retelling parables to try and draw them out into today’s context. I helped run youth groups in my church, and the youth would often say things like, ‘The Good Samaritan, Samaritans are always good,’ and I was like, oh no, I see how you get that without any historical or cultural context.”
He continued: “I love it, but not everybody loves tunics and sandals. So it was a way of kind of going, ‘Here’s the same story, just with a few aesthetic differences,’ in the hopes of connecting people.”
Despite its world-building and alternate aesthetics, “Testament” remains rooted in Scripture and in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
“Throughout this whole show, the main character that is not on the call sheet is the Holy Spirit,” Syrstad, who is also gearing up to direct a film based on the lives of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, said. “He is the main character. He’s just in every single episode, without fail.”
That presence is especially felt in scenes like the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira as recounted in Acts 5, a passage often skipped over or softened. “If it was me, it would wreck me,” Syrstad said. “To have the faithfulness to His Word to actually stand there and watch that happen, with the warning, and still know that it’s coming, I would be distraught.”
He added, “Sometimes we display the Holy Spirit’s joy without His holiness. And sometimes the holiness without the joy. What we’ve endeavored to do is display both.”
According to the director, “Testament” seeks to walk a delicate line of remaining faithful to the biblical narrative while reframing it for a new generation.
“The characters are the same, the location names are the same,” Syrstad said. “We call Jerusalem ‘Salem’ in our version. But apart from that, it’s pretty much all the same.”
Syrstad believes the book of Acts has never been more timely. Part of the brilliance of Acts, he emphasized, is that the apostles, so often elevated to mythical status, were deeply human with their own quirks, doubts and struggles.
“Whenever I go to church, and sometimes I preach as well, I find I’m always harking back to the early church, because that’s our template,” he said. “You and I right now, we are part of Acts Chapter 29, which is the unwritten chapter. And we are continually living that out.”
“These incredible pillars of the faith were human,” Syrstad said. “They had the same struggles and the same worries and tensions that we have as followers of Jesus. Granted, they got to spend three years with Him, which must have been awesome,” he added with a laugh, “but they were still human.”
With “The Chosen,” “House of David” and other biblical epics gaining traction, “Testament” arrives amid what some are calling a renaissance of faith-based storytelling. Syrstad said he sees it as part of a larger shift.
“I think the democratization of filmmaking has helped a lot,” he said. “The gatekeepers, just on an equipment level, have leveled out dramatically. And there’s this desire from Christian creatives to tell these stories well.”
The key difference, he said, is that this new wave isn’t looking to Hollywood for approval.
“Hollywood’s tried to do biblical adaptations, but they always seem to miss something,” he said. “It’s the true connection with these stories, and the want to respect them, to put them on the pedestal they deserve.”
He added: “I always think of Christian film and TV as either for the Church or from the Church. And some get to straddle both. There’s a place for the ‘cheese-fest’ stuff — it doesn’t always reach a wide net — but what we’re seeing now is that the wider audience is taking note.”
Syrstad co-wrote “Testament” with his wife, Faith, and her brother, Kenneth, a family collaboration that proved to be “the most wonderful writing experience ever.” The result is a series that doesn’t shy away from tension, both theological and emotional.
“In our story, Saul plays a pivotal role earlier than he does in Acts,” Syrstad said. “If you go a little Bible-nerd and realize Saul studied under Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin, and yet Gamaliel defended the apostles, there’s a beautiful tension there.”
“I hope it creates a boldness to approach stories in a way that’s fresh,” he added. “While staying faithful to Scripture, to the character of our God, and to the spirit of His Word.”
At the London premiere of Testament just days before our conversation, Syrstad sat with 300 attendees to screen the first two episodes, and he said he was overwhelmed by the support the show received.
“People have loved the brashness, the boldness,” Syrstad said. “And I think people have been surprised by how faithful it is to the book of Acts while doing it in this alternate world.”
“I think Acts is always relevant,” he added. “Wherever and whenever we are.”
The series stars Eben Figueiredo as Saul, Charlie Beaven as Stephen, Mogali Masuku as Mary of Magdala, Tom Simper as Peter, Stuart Scudamore as Gamaliel, Yasmin Paige as Mara, and brothers Kenneth and John Omole as the brothers of thunder, John and James Zebedee.
The first two episodes of “Testament,” season one, aired on June 8, with a total of eight episodes.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
