Five Facts about the New Version of Tetelestai

1. Same Content

The Tetelestai series (Greek for “It is Finished”) traces God’s hand from the Garden of Eden to the risen Christ in eleven 30-minute episodes. Over a thousand actors make the eternal story of redemption come to life in this award-winning series.  Twenty-four key biblical narratives unfold the breathtaking story of the God who passionately loves humanity and paid the ultimate price for our rescue.

2. New Host

While the script and biblical scenes are the same, we filmed a completely new host in this exciting new version of Tetelestai. Aware of the potential barriers western hosts—and a woman on the screen, in general—could cause, our new host, Mr. Ibn Massih, offers a more culturally appropriate appearance for many of our future audiences in India, TurkMENA, and SE Asia.

3. Same Locations

The new Tetelestai hosted by Ibn Massih was filmed in all of the same breathtaking locations as the original Tetelestai series. The original version of Tetelestai is already broadcast in more than 35 countries in multiple languages. This new version maintains the same standards of quality and artistic production. Ibn Massih delivers the entire series in his winsome British English, a strategic universal language for our translation and dubbing partners.

4. New Borders

Already available in Burmese and Bengali, with many more languages—such as Turkmen, Hindi, and Hausa—underway, our partners around the world are already working with this new version of Tetelestai. Not only is there an immediate advantage with the appearance of the host, but only one male voice artist is needed for each language project, making it far easier for new dubbing projects in minority languages, especially in restricted countries or tribal locations.

5. Same Power

Among many of the minority languages we hope to reach, the translation of the Bible has not yet been completed. In one of these languages, the national Bible society’s translation team chose to partner with Light in Action to translate all of the biblical passages that appear in Tetelestai. Not only did they view Tetelestai as a powerful tool for Scripture engagement, but they have reported that working on the translation itself has been an incredible journey for their local Bible translators. Paulo Texeira, the consultant and director of translation, reported that the translators themselves have gained a deeper understanding of the Bible and how it all fits together (especially the Old Testament), as a result of their work on these passages for Tetelestai.

As a team, we at Light in Action are praying this partnership with Bible translators will be the first of many stories around the globe. We are the humble servants of these heroes and only desire to serve those on the frontlines who are providing the Word of God in the heart language of each people group. Want to know more? Write to arlen@lightinaction.org for the availability of all current languages[3] as well as the possibility of new  translations.

Cynthia Isaak grew up on the mission field. Light in Action was formed with a passion for creating useful media resources for reaching the unreached. You can follow them on Instagram @arlencynthia or write to Cynthia at cynthia@lightinaction.org.