Prophesy meets sci-fi in CW's 'The Messengers'

A meteor streaks down from the heavens and crashes to Earth, the resulting shockwave temporarily stopping the hearts of five disparate strangers.

When they re-awaken, they find themselves inexplicably imbued with extraordinary gifts ranging from superhuman strength to the ability to heal. They're now connected as the five Angels of the Apocalypse, and they may be the only hope for preventing the impending Rapture or end of the world, as prophesied in the Bible's Book of Revelation.

That's the storyline of The CW's intriguing and visually striking new sci-fi drama series “The Messengers,” premiering Friday, April 17. Filmed in the New Mexico desert, it stars as the five strangers Shantel VanSanten as scientist Vera Buckley; Sofia Black-D'Elia as abused young mother Erin Calder; Joel Courtney as bullied high-school student Peter Moore; JD Pardo as federal agent Raul Garcia; and Jon Fletcher as Joshua Silburn Jr., a charismatic televangelist who posits that the apocalypse is under way.

That idea is bolstered by the presence of a mysterious figure known only as The Man, who offers Vera to be reunited with her kidnapped son in return for her help with one morally complicated task. As we come to find out, it is a deal with the devil — literally.

In creating the fallen angel Lucifer, Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado says he tried to get away from the Bible's graphic interpretation and instead make him more human.

“We try to excuse him more and give him a background that will lead you to why he does what he does ...,” explains Morgado, who ironically enough has played Jesus Christ in “Son of God” and the History miniseries “The Bible.” “So for me, it was more about using and abusing the tools that we have as humans that we understand, like manipulation, sarcasm and having this big smile when somebody really wants to stab you in the back.

“So all of that stuff that is common sense as being bad and manipulative,” he continues, “I used that, but not in a demonic way. It's more of a human thing because I think it's more important to bring the idea of the evil that we know and we all can relate with every day than the supernatural evil.”

As much a character in this end-of-times tale is the location of the New Mexico desert, which executive producer Trey Callaway says was chosen for its arid beauty and expansive vistas.

“The pilot really creates this beautiful visual pallet,” Callaway says. “It's been described as 'Close Encounters' meets 'The Stand.' You know, it's got a really cinematic scope to it, and I think a lot of that is because of the beautiful, natural vistas of New Mexico. They don't call it 'The Land of Enchantment' by accident. It really is a visually sumptuous place to shoot.”