RISEN: The Series

CREATED BY: Jennessa West & Elissa Walstead

A renowned geneticist unintentionally resurrects Jesus Christ. Is this a scientific feat or divine providence?

RISEN is a long form series which examines the often destructive and complementary relationships between science, religion, government, people and power. 
Genre: Thriller/Drama

In 2024, after a devastating cyber attack on the world’s power grids, much of the population was left in the dark for nearly 6 months. Eventually electricity was restored, but the failure of global leaders to act swiftly has plunged the world into a state of distrust, perpetual famine and disease. During these dark times, many turn to religion believing the world is heading into the “end of days”. The New Order, an extreme Christian government, emerges and seizes the opportunity to take control.

The story centers on geneticist, ODESSA OHMAN who has buried herself in work after losing her only child during the black out. Publicly, her research focuses on cloning cells in extinct plants to create innovative vaccines, but privately she has wandered into the morally ambiguous territory of human cloning.

JOHN GILCREST, a disaffected Cardinal, is struggling with his faith until he finds God in an online chat room for recovering Catholics. He is recruited for a dangerous mission to retrieve relics from the death of Jesus Christ and deliver them to a geneticist in Salem, Oregon: Odessa Ohman.

Odessa dismisses John and his relics as an elaborate hoax. However, her curiosity gets the best of her and a closer look at these relics reveals an astonishing discovery: dormant DNA with a genetic code unlike anything she’s ever seen. With only moments to make a life-altering decision and to carry this experiment to term, she impregnates herself with what could be the genetic clone of Jesus Christ.

All is not what it seems and Odessa soon realizes she has become an unwilling participant in political and religious grab for power. To protect the unborn child, whomever this child may be, Odessa must go into hiding. To make matters worse, her husband happens to be NATHAN BRAGG, the high profile Governor of Oregon and a senior ranking member of The New Order - the very organization Odessa is running from.

Jennessa West
206.245.3798
jennessa@pressingpictures.com

Elissa Walstead
206.883.6235
elissa@walstead.net