Rueben's Ramblings

The four-hour mini-series Ben Hur will debut on Ovation on March 31 at 8 PM.

Based on the novel “Ben-Hur: A tale of Christ” by Lew Wallace follows Judah Ben Hur (Joseph Morgan from The Vampire Diaries), a wealthy Jewish prince who is betrayed by his childhood friend, Messala. Eventually enslaved, Ben Hur becomes a hero when he saves the life of a Roman leader and soon receives new wealth and power. His quest, though, is to deliver vengeance upon Messala for the destruction of the Ben Hur family. During his journey for redemption, Ben Hur challenges his foe to a chariot race to the death. The mini-series will air during an Easter weekend programming event.

The cast includes Emily VanCamp (Revenge), Stephen Campbell Moore (Titanic mini-series), Kristin Kreuk (Beauty And the Beast), Simon Andreu (The Cold Light of Day), Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), James Faulkner (Bridget Jones’ Diary), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), Ray Winstone (Great Expectations), Kris Holden-Ried (Lost Girl) and Ben Cross (William & Kate).

NOTE: This movie was originally to be released in 2010 before Morgan landed his role on The Vampire Diaries; before Revenge or Beauty And the Beast (for which VanCamp and Kruek are in the lead roles, of course) were picked up by ABC and The CW respectively; before Downton Abbey (which stars Bonneville) became the international sensation for which it has become and right before the debut of Lost Girl (which stars Holden-Ried) debuted in Canada.

Here is the trailer for Ben Hur.