Back in February, there was a strong but sudden rumbling online about a new Prime Video series titled House of David. Over only a few weeks, the Jon Erwin-created series grew into a word-of-mouth hit. During that time, I had the enormous pleasure of covering the show professionally for another outlet, writing both episodic recaps and feature-length explainers comparing the show’s content to the biblical narrative.

So, when the good folks over at Wonder Project (the production house behind the series) reached out with the opportunity to speak with producer Justin Rosenblatt, I couldn’t refuse.

Rosenblatt has been in the entertainment business for decades but has more recently been drawn to stories that speak to those that he refers to as the “faith and values” audience. For him, House of David is only the beginning.

When I asked Rosenblatt why he wanted to be involved in a series like House of David, he offered an insightful reply.

People are looking around right now and seeing stories that trend cynical, nihilistic, that generally pull us apart and make us question humanity. David is a universal story, the underdogs triumph. [It’s] one that anyone anywhere can relate to, but it’s also stood the test of time. I think it was as important 3,000 years ago as it is today and we all need to be reminded that if we step forward courageously and face our fears and trust in our purpose, the miraculous can and does happen. These are things worth believing in and I think that’s really—to me, that’s sort of the fulcrum of the series.

One of the results that Wonder Project producer has noticed about House of David’s popularity is that “it encourages people to go back and read the original text.” No matter what Bible story you’re adapting, this is, of course, the goal: that others will turn to the inspired source material. It’s the only way to get the full, authentic story.

He’s right too. Many have since gone back to compare the series to the biblical narrative. For some, House of David strays a bit too far from the Old Testament accounts, turning them off to the project entirely. Others have recognized the show’s creative liberties as artistic license to broaden the story for an eight-episode medium, as well as the creatives’ intent to stay true to the core of the text.

Whichever camp you fall into, Rosenblatt believes that there’s something of value for everyone to pull from the show.

I also think that it’s the fundamental underdog story. You think of all the great events that we refer to as “David and Goliath” moments or historical events where we use the same expression: this is the source of that. And it’s the story of searching for your purpose in the world. David knows he has a calling, but he doesn’t know what it is or how to express it. It’s his faith that keeps him taking the next step. Right now, in our society, a lot of young people are feeling purposeless, and I think David can provide an example of how to walk through that in faith.

The beauty of the story of David is that, while he was a “man after God’s own heart,” he was also a fallen, broken human being. He made his fair share of mistakes—mistakes that, no doubt, House of David will be forced to confront in the coming years. Yet, he trusted in God to see him through, and in submitting to the Lord’s will in all things, David found great success over his enemies.

To say that House of David was a success would be an understatement. Over the course of only six weeks, the series was thrust into Prime Video’s #1 spot, where it remained for some time. Before Season 1 even concluded, the show was deemed a “hit” and promptly renewed for a second season. As I write this, Season 2’s production has been underway in Greece for nearly a month now.

House of David’s increasing ratings have been largely the result of word-of-mouth exposure, as both religious and non-religious audiences have flocked to the series. Of course, the show doesn’t exist in a vacuum either. For years, another biblically inspired drama, The Chosen, has been retelling the story of Jesus Christ in a multi-season format. Though the two projects are entirely unconnected, it’s no wonder that similar audiences would be drawn to the story of David as well.

"I think there’s [an] importance in bringing biblical dramas to audiences,” Rosenblatt noted after I asked about the slow return of the Hollywood biblical epic. “I think the story’s themes of redemption, purpose, strength in adversity, [and] valor, are deeply human and relatable. They emphasize what it means to confront fear and rise above failure.”

There’s a reason that Christian, Jewish, and secular audiences can all watch and glean from films like Ben-Hur or The Passion of the Christ. Biblical stories are universal stories because the God who wrote them created the universe. There are countless lessons that can be pulled from them, whether deep, theological and philosophical truths or practical ideas about reality that we cannot ignore.

Circling back to House of David’s growing success, Rosenblatt elaborated on how the series has excelled, praising the audience for really digging into it. More than that, he expands on the idea that the series can inspire a personal change in one’s life, whatever that may look like.

It’s definitely a word-of-mouth show. It’s certainly something that ministry leaders can get behind and talk to their congregations about. It’s community outreach. To your point, you said you watch it with your family; I have a fifteen-year-old son—it’s multigenerational. It sort of has youth appeal and adult appeal, and it really does transcend generations. It’s one of the few shows that does. (…) And I think at the end, as you probably heard with Wonder Project, one of our organizing principles is that anything that we get behind should restore your faith in things worth believing in. That’s something that’s really part of [creator] Jon Erwin’s ethos—and this show does that exact thing. Whether it’s community, redemption, doing the right thing, God. Whatever that is to you, or the audience, I think—again going back to that “David and Goliath” catchphrase—it’s just so recognizable. Everybody knows what it is, and what it evokes.

Of course, the reason why House of David garnered such a quick following in the first place is due to the source material it’s pulling from. As a kid, I always dreamed of making a long-form King David television series. In fact, I even began plotting one out back in film school. But Rosenblatt and Wonder Project beat me to it. Frankly, it’s a miracle someone else hadn’t made this show (successfully, that is) years ago.

“I feel like that is sort of a confluence of great source material — the greatest,” Rosenblatt adds, “and interpreting it in a way that is totally accessible and unpredictable but stays very true to the text and is cinematic and entertaining.” The goal with House of David was to always bring the biblical story to life. As Rosenblatt puts it, the Bible has “withstood the test of time.” More than that, it continues to draw in an audience from all walks of life.

One thing I’m super proud of is that people continue to discover it and are now getting to catch up on episodes. I’m hearing from my aunt in Minnesota about it, and a friend of mine was in Maui last week and ran into Alice Cooper at a restaurant, and he was raving about this show. [Laughs] So, it’s really touching people in the most unexpected places.

For years, Hollywood greenlit Bible-based projects helmed by those with no reverence whatsoever for the scripture that inspired them. Darren Aronofsky’s Noah comes to mind, as does Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. In fact, back in the mid-2010s, ABC produced a short-lived David series titled Of Kings and Prophets. There’s a reason it was short-lived.

But with House of David, the show stands out due to many of the creative forces involved.

Creator Jon Erwin is an outspoken Christian who, along with his brother Andrew, got into the filmmaking business to “spread the Gospel further than it’s ever been using film as the medium” (per Erwin Brothers). Likewise, executive producer Jon Gunn has worked on films like Jesus Revolution and The Case for Christ, both of which center on the way the Gospel can completely change those who receive it. Additionally, the first two episodes credit author N.D. Wilson, himself an outspoken believer, as a co-screenwriter.

With minds like these (and many more), it’s easy to see why the show is so engaging. Yet, what makes House of David stand apart is that it does its best to pay attention to the details. Sure, not everything is totally accurate (shouldn’t David’s mother still be alive?), but Rosenblatt asserts that he and the rest of the creative team took great care to fact-check their material both before and after filming.

It’s important to balance historical accuracy with the need to create compelling drama for a modern audience, but it’s easy to do when you have the best source material in the world. The story of David is a compelling drama for modern audiences as written in the Books of Samuel, so it was never even close to an either-or, but we wanted to authenticate our interpretations of the material. So, we utilized Come and See’s biblical advisory council, rabbinical advisors, select theologists, to ensure that everything on the page was reviewed and blessed before we searched ahead and filmed. And we did it again after we had finished shooting.

Naturally, the goal with House of David was never to replace scripture. “We don’t want you to expect or want this show to replace the biblical story,” the producer later elaborated after first noting that they “were not going to do anything that was in direct opposition or contradiction to the text.”

As Rosenblatt put it earlier in our conversation, the Prime Video series has sent many back to 1 Samuel to read David’s story for themselves. In fact, Wonder Project’s social media campaign asked the audience to do just that. Various Instagram posts directed the audience right back to scripture, and others, such as the “7 Day Goliath Challenge,” urged fans to spend some time in the Word every day leading up to the Season 1 finale (“David and Goliath - Part 2”).

It was clear from the beginning that the show aimed to take the Bible (as well as both history and Jewish tradition) seriously. However, adding dramatization is necessary for a long-form television medium.

But, of course, you’ve gotta fact check everything, and it would be irresponsible for us not to take those measures, before and after. I really stress that because it wasn’t like we just checked a box and said, “Okay, everybody’s signed off.” We did it repeatedly throughout the process. (…) We aren’t pretending it’s exactly the same, but we’re hoping that it will point people toward it, like I mentioned. We put a lot of effort, tremendous effort, into making sure nothing in the show contradicts the Bible while still adding some heart and humor and pathos to the expanded story.

It was at this point that our conversation switched gears a little. Pivoting away from House of David specifically, I asked Rosenblatt for further clarification about Wonder Project.

The indie studio launched back at the tail end of 2023, and House of David is the first major production to hit screens since. With a mission statement that aims to “tell courageous stories, inspire hope, and restore faith,” I inquired about the goal here. What sort of stories is Wonder really trying to tell?

So, the Wonder Project is Jon Erwin’s brain trust. We are a “faith and values” independent studio and company and want to be a trusted brand that serves the faith and values audience globally, with movies and television shows like they never dreamed were possible. We want to become the world’s most trusted entertainment destination for the faith and values audience. We’re aiming to elevate storytelling that inspires audiences and deliver faith-based content that’s reimagined. As well as, we want to really entertain the world with courageous stories, inspiring hope and restoring faith in things worth believing in.

Although Rosenblatt notes that those things could be anything from “entrepreneurship” and “God” to “redemption” and “family,” there was one element that the executive expanded on that really stood out…

You know, faith is, you’ve probably heard this corroborated in your discussions, but faith to us is not a genre. It’s an audience. It’s a theme. And in our opinions, there is a misconception that faith content or faith and values content proselytizes or is really low-quality or has low stakes. We are trying to destigmatize that.

This is a mission statement that’s easy to get behind.

For years, faith-based audiences (particularly Christians) have been offered entertainment that reeks of poor acting, uninspired writing, and low-budget material. Someone once coined the term “sermovies” (a clever portmanteau of “sermon” and “movie”) when discussing the faith-based films of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and I think that’s appropriate.

The problem was, in lieu of any other material, most simply bought into it with no questions asked. It’s no wonder it’s taken so long for real, quality faith-based material to appear.

Thankfully, Wonder is not in the “sermovies” business. Quite the opposite.

We are investing and producing in all different genres that reflect these themes, and our goal is really to respect and super-serve the core audience. That is our remit. We’re not trying to be everything to everybody. And nobody is doing this right now and doing it well. So, we saw an opportunity to build on that. We are here to serve the core audience. If you asked anyone at this company, they would certainly echo that. And in doing so, we want to deliver to them these stories in television and film that deliver the value, proposition, and promise of our company. And it’s really fun because what started inside Jon’s head, we’ve all sort of worked together to actualize his vision.

For Rosenblatt, the sky’s the limit concerning what types of stories Wonder can tell. Sure, House of David is a biblical epic, but the indie studio isn’t limiting itself to Bible-based dramas (nor should it). “We can do biblical, of course, but we can also do something that’s really populist and mainstream but also really stays true to our core values,” he adds.

What does that entail? The producer teases us with potential mysteries, family action-adventures, and other exciting ideas. “That’s the beauty of faith; it can be embedded in every single genre imaginable,” Rosenblatt continues. “It’s kind of the secret weapon in that way.”

That’s an apt way to put it. As Hebrews 11:1 asserts, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” There are no limits to what genres can be infused with faith-based ideals. To be more specific, Christ-centered ideals. After all, fantasy stories like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings contain deep and rich biblical truths, despite not being Bible adaptations themselves. In the same way, Wonder seems to want to explore similar ideas through various styles and mediums.

[We want] to be a conduit for conversations with people. For families to watch together or if they’re watching apart to come together at the dinner table or in the car on the drive to school and talk about [it]. “Hey, I saw this thing last night, this show last night that I really enjoyed. This theme came up, what do you guys think?” And if we can be a conduit for that, I think we’ve won. [We] really want to become the recognized brand for this audience and stand for something.

While House of David Season 2 is already Wonder’s most highly anticipated project, Rosenblatt also teased an upcoming series titled It’s Not Like That. Described as a family drama, the show is set to follow “a pastor who’s raising kids and grieving the loss of his wife.” And that’s not all. The producer also dropped hints at different historical dramas, mysteries, action flicks, and more — both in the film and television departments.

“But regardless of the genre, they all do restore your faith in things worth believing,” Rosenblatt reassures.

Whether House of David is your cup of tea or not, it’s clear that Wonder Project has made an impact on the entertainment industry. Like the Erwin Brothers’ Kingdom Story Company before it (and its contemporary Angel Studios), we can only hope that the stories this indie studio tells will glorify God and prove that the intersection between faith and art can be a quite powerful place full of inspiration, truth, and wonder.

You can watch the trailer for House of David Season 1 — which is available in its entirety on Prime Video — below.

To listen to my full conversation with House of David producer Justin Rosenblatt, check out the Further Up & Further In podcast below.