Roma Downey is a Hollywood actress best known for her beautiful Irish accent and starring role in the 1990s hit TV show “Touched by an Angle.” She’s also now the star of a faith-based show on Amazon Prime called “The Baxters.” Speaking during a recent interview with CBN News, Downey described how a distinctive “God moment” made the faith-based show possible.
As background, “The Baxtes” is based on a book series by a Christian novelist named Karen Kingsbury. Amazon, describing the show, notes, “Based on the worldwide best-selling book series by Karen Kingsbury, The Baxters is a riveting family drama that follows Elizabeth and John Baxter and their five adult children. Season One of The Baxters centers on Elizabeth and John’s daughter, Kari, who learns the shocking truth that her professor husband, Tim, has been secretly having an affair with one of his college students. As her relationship is tested, Kari must seek comfort in her faith and family to discover if love is truly a choice and if her marriage can be redeemed. In this deeply moving faith-based journey, The Baxters must come together as a family to work through the challenges of life.” Downey is both the executive producer for the show and plays the in-show matriarch, Elizabeth.
Speaking to CBN News in an interview about how she feels there was a “God moment” that made the show’s creation possible, Downey said, “We just felt it was a God moment; it was just providence played out. We felt like it was a blessing.” That God moment was that Downey connected with Kingsbury, the writer of the “The Baxters” book series, and that she decided to call Kingsbury, whose recently deceased father had told her to reach out to Downey about turning it into a show.
Recalling how she read the first book in the series and was hooked, Downey said, “I just couldn’t put it down.” Continuing, she added that she was so entranced that she realized it would make a fantastic faith-based TV show, saying, “I really became aware of the project as a fan. I loved the book. I could see it visually. I thought, ‘This needs to be a TV show.’”
So she called Kingsbury, and found out that Kingsbury had been readying to call her, something she though of as a “God moment.” Downey said, “She said, ‘It’s so extraordinary that you called me.’ She said, ‘My father, before he passed, said to me, ‘You need to reach out to Roma Downey on ‘Touched By An Angel’ to make your book a TV series.’ So, in that moment, we just felt as if it was a God moment.”
Concluding, Downey told CBN News that the project has turned out quite well, saying, “It’s turned out even better than we hoped that it would. We’re delighted that we’re going to launch on Amazon’s Prime Video for Easter. I’m delighted that they’ve given me the Easter time slot.”
Watch the interview here:
Featured image credit: By Salvation Army USA West – JG1_7228, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47458719