<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A Biblical series reaching No. 1 on a major streaming service may seem as unlikely as a shepherd boy killing a 9-foot giant with a single stone from his slingshot. But Michael Iskander demonstrates that believing in something can turn the seemingly impossible into reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story of David is pretty wild, and I think there\u2019s a reason why it\u2019s resonated for so many years,\u201d said the former Broadway actor, who, in his first major TV role, plays the \u201cHouse of David\u201d titular character. \u201cPeople have come up to me from all walks of life \u2014 not just Christians \u2014 and they talk about how much they love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHouse of David,\u201d which loosely follows the life of the shepherd boy and the well-known events familiar to religious believers,<\/a> like his fight with a lion, killing Goliath and ascending to become king of Israel, sling-shot its way to the top of Prime Video<\/a> after debuting in February without much social media fanfare or extensive press. The streaming service says more than 44 million viewers worldwide have watched the series based on the heroic character recognized in the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.<\/p>\n The series is part of a growing number of Hollywood faith-based projects reaching beyond religious audiences<\/a> thanks to stunning cinematography, high-impact action sequences and suspenseful plots.<\/a> A lane for \u201cHouse of David\u201d was created thanks to the major success of \u201cThe Chosen,\u201d<\/a> a series based on the life of Jesus Christ, and more are coming: \u201cJoseph of Egypt,\u201d based on the popular story of the boy who was sold into slavery by jealous brothers before rising to ruler or Egypt, is in the works.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see these Biblical figures and we think they\u2019re so much larger than life,\u201d said the 23-year-old Egyptian-born actor, who recently converted to Catholicism from Coptic Orthodoxy. \u201cMy personal goal was to bridge that gap and to show people \u2026 they make mistakes just like us.\u201d<\/p>\n While \u201cHouse of David\u201d originally premiered on Prime Video, season two will debut Oct. 5 exclusively on the new Wonder Project subscription service that costs an additional $8.99. The season will eventually arrive on the main platform at a later date.<\/p>\n Iskander spoke to The Associated Press about his upcoming album, the debate about roles devout religious actors should take, and cantankerous sheep. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n AP: What drew you to the role of David?<\/p>\n ISKANDER: David is known for being the Psalm writer, and the poet. But he was also a warrior. He became a king. And so, this man has so many aspects to his life.<\/p>\n Famously Bathsheba: cheating on his eight wives with the wife of one of his soldiers, and then covering that up by killing that soldier. And yet, that guy is known as the man after God\u2019s own heart. How does David get that title? You discover that the whole point of the story of David is about the heart, how a heart after God can lead you to defeating giants.<\/p>\n AP: How did you train to become a shepherd for this role?<\/p>\n ISKANDER: The sheep hated me, like, they wanted nothing to do with me. They saw me from like a mile away and they started running. And the shepherd would have to kind of calm them down. And eventually, they weren\u2019t too scared.<\/p>\n Him giving me advice on how to take care of sheep, it informed me about the types of things that David would do. And so, even that, I started to understand David more.<\/p>\n AP: There\u2019s always the discussion about the content of roles that devout followers should take, whether they involve sex scenes or gratuitous violence. Have you thought about future projects?<\/p>\n ISKANDER: My faith always comes first. That\u2019s No. 1. And so, I guess I look at everything through that lens. I don\u2019t see why there should be a separation between art and faith. I\u2019m very lucky with David. I get to worship when I go to work \u2014 that\u2019s a blessing. I hope more people are inspired by faith in their art.<\/p>\n I think humans are very complex beings and we can\u2019t tell our story without telling some of our downfalls. I have a line that I don\u2019t cross, but I don\u2019t think we should be afraid to dive into the complete nature of humanity.<\/p>\n AP: Can you tell me about your upcoming album based on music from the show?<\/p>\n ISKANDER: It\u2019s been one of my dreams for the longest time to bring the Psalms to life and to put them to the original language.<\/p>\n I sent a little sample to the to the producers of the show and I was like, \u2018Hey, can we do the show and the music of the show in Hebrew?\u2019 And they loved it. Out of it arose these Psalms in Hebrew that were kind of sprinkled throughout the show, and they started to really resonate with people. And they were like, we want an album.<\/p>\n AP: Are you prepared to be known as David for the rest of your life?<\/p>\n ISKANDER: I don\u2019t mind at all. If I\u2019m known as David, then that would be a blessing. ___ Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A Biblical series reaching No. 1 on a major streaming service may seem as unlikely as a shepherd boy killing a 9-foot giant with a single stone from his slingshot. But Michael Iskander demonstrates that believing in something can turn the seemingly impossible into reality. \u201cThe story of David is pretty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2067039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[386517,386519,386518,327177,353695],"class_list":["post-2067038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-house-of-david","tag-iskander","tag-michael-iskander","tag-streaming-service","tag-the-story-of-david"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/House-of-David-star-Michael-Iskander-says-season-two-resonates.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067040,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067038\/revisions\/2067040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}