'The Bible' Sequel 'A.D.: Beyond the Bible' Coming to NBC / Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Depict Early Days of Christianity.

History Channel may have landed producer couple Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's divinely successful mini-series The Bible, but NBC now has the rights to the follow up: A.D.: Beyond the Bible.

Just like in the Bible, the sequel will deal with the aftermath of Jesus' death, the Herod dynasty, the remaining disciples, and the fate of Israel. 

"I followed the development process of The Bible closely with Mark," NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said in a statement, "and knew that the story was far from over after Christ's crucifixion. In fact, what happened in the aftermath-which is essentially the beginning of Christianity-is utterly fascinating."

The Survivor producer and Touched By An Angel star think NBC is the perfect network for such a huge production.

"We are thrilled to be working with Bob, Jen and Quinn Taylor to bring the follow-up to our hit cable series 'The Bible' to broadcast television with NBC," said Burnett and Downey. "Our new series, 'A.D.: Beyond the Bible', is another massive project and a major commitment, but it's a story that has to be told. It's a story that changed the world. We look forward to making this an enormous television event on NBC."

Airing in March earlier this year, The Bible was a hugely successful 10-hour mini-series. Taking years of production and research, the series averaged 11.4 million viewers each week over 5 weeks, making it the number one new cable series of 2013.

The Bible is also the top-selling mini-series of all time and number one DVD and Blu-Ray in the last 5 years, with over a million copies sold in the last few months.

"My feeling is that over the next 30 years, it wouldn't be wrong to think a billion people will see this," Burnett said back when The Bible was running in March. "Or perhaps more."