Owen Wilson Stars as God, Atheist Daniel Radcliffe Plays an Angel in Upcoming Comedy Series
God is coming to television next year in the form of a new anthology comedy series led by veteran comedian Owen Wilson and "Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe.
According to Deadline, the comedy called "Miracle Workers" is based off of the Simon Rich book What in God's Name. The upcoming series will center around Radcliffe's character Craig trying to prevent the world from ending as an angel who is responsible for handling people's prayers.
His boss happens to be God, played by Wilson ("Wedding Crashers" "Zoolander"). However, instead of helping Craig prevent the end of the earth it seems the fictitious God will be more preoccupied with pursuing some of his hobbies.
While there is no word yet on the official release date of the new series, Deadline reports that it is scheduled for a 2018 release with a rollout of seven episodes. Wilson and Radcliffe will also serve as executive producers.
Brett Weitz, executive vice president of original programming at TBS, revealed why working with the two film stars was important.
"Having Daniel Radcliffe and Owen Wilson join the TBS family is proof of the continued evolution of this comedy brand as the home of the most creative minds in the business," Weitz said, according to Deadline. "Owen Wilson has long been a comic genius, and Daniel's performance in last year's Swiss Army Man really proved that there's a sophisticated comedian under the surface of those brilliant dramatic chops. Simon and Lorne are total pros in walking the tightrope between reality and ridiculousness, and they do it with a lot of heart and wit."
While the spiritual beliefs of Wilson are unclear, a 2007 People article reported that he had been spotted praying at church. However, Radcliffe has made it very clear that he identifies with atheism.
"I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it," Radcliffe previously said in The Telegraph. "I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch."