Following the final 12 hours in the lead-up to the death of Jesus Christ – including his arrest, trial and crucifixion – the film starred Jim Caviezel as the Messiah, Maia Morgenstern as his mother Mary, and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene.

Although the screenplay was based on the gospels, it did face the wrath of many – who said its violence was too graphic, while others went so far as to call it antisemitic.

Despite the backlash, it was a box office success – grossing a mammoth $612.1million (£458million) and still stands as the highest-grossing Christian film of all time.

It was also warmly received by critics – receiving three Oscar nominations.

After years of discussions that a sequel was on its way, in 2016 writer Randall Wallace said he and Gibson were working on a follow-up that would focus on Jesus' Resurrection and the events surrounding it.

What do we know about the sequel?

Two years after Wallace's initial announcement, Caviezel said that Gibson had sent him the third draft of the screenplay, announcing his intentions to reprise his role as Jesus Christ.

In 2020 he declared of the sequel: 'It's going to be the biggest film in world history.'

In 2023 Gibson then said it was 'coming soon', going on to reveal earlier this year it would be titled The Resurrection of the Christ.

Speaking of two scrips he'd been working on, he explained: 'One of them is a very structured and very strong script and kind of more what one should expect, and the other is like an acid trip'.

Asked about concerns that so much time had passed since the original, he said last year that there were plans to use technology in order to see the main cast return.

What has happened to the cast?

At the time Gibson had confirmed that Caviezel, 57, would reprise the role, explaining how CGI and special effects would be utilised to make him appear the same age as he was when the original was filmed two decades ago.

However, this week it was announced that he's now been cut from the film entirely – with a younger actor set to take over.

As first reported by Variety, Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen (best known appearing in the Netflix historical drama The Last Kingdom) will now be playing Jesus.