Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

The late Hristo Jivkov to star in The Passion of the Christ sequel digitally

Mel Gibson and Hristo Jivkov
Photo: archive

Exactly 20 years after the release of the epic biblical film The Passion of the Christ, its director Mel Gibson will make a sequel. This was announced by the production company of the Hollywood filmmaker. The production is already in an advanced preliminary stage. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2025, before Easter. Unfortunately, the Bulgarian actor Hristo Jivkov passed away in 2023, aged only 47. Mel Gibson, who has often admired his talent, has made up his mind that the actor must star in the sequel as well, albeit digitally. The sequel is to be called The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.

It is a little known fact that while shooting The Passion of the Christ, Hristo Jivkov underwent a strict fast. Even though there is no such practice in Catholicism, Mel Gibson, himself is a Catholic, also abstained from animal source food like the Bulgarian actor. In the 2004 movie, another Bulgarian actor, Hristo Shopov, played Pontius Pilate, but there is no information as yet whether he will feature in the sequel as well.

Compiled by Gergana Mancheva
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgarian artist Stoimen Stoilov with an exhibition in Vienna

An exhibition by Bulgarian artist Stoimen Stoilov will open at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute "Haus Wittgenstein" in Vienna , Austria, on February 28 and will be on display until March 28. The exhibition includes paintings, pastels and graphics...

published on 2/26/25 1:45 PM
Victoria Beshliiska

Victoria Beshliiska included in Curtis Brown catalogue

Just a few weeks after being proclaimed Writer of 2024 at the annual Sofia City Library awards and after her Nishka (Thread) was declared novel of the year in the Bulgarian Literature category of the Ozone.bg awards, Victoria Beshliiska, author of..

published on 2/25/25 5:05 PM
Nayden Todorov

Conductor Nayden Todorov receives Romania's highest award for culture

At a special ceremony at the Romanian Embassy in Sofia, Ambassador Brândușa Ioana Predescu presented Bulgarian conductor Nayden Todorov with the Order of Cultural Merit with the rank of Grand Officer. "We are here to honor today your Maestro whom I..

published on 2/19/25 12:07 PM