Until now, the female roles in The Passion were sparse with only Maria’s. That will change on Thursday, now that Maria Magdalena also makes an appearance in the Easter spectacle of KRO-NCRV on NPO 1. Kim-Lian van der Meij is the first interpreter of this hitherto underexposed disciple. “I’ve been given a lot of freedom to find out who she is to me,” says the actress.

“She is on display for the first time, so I have no predecessors that I could look at to see how they did it,” says Van der Meij (41), who was therefore able to largely interpret the role himself. of Mary Magdalene. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with the makers, the rest of the cast and a dramaturg about this role. On the one hand, you are faithful to the story of the Bible, but you also try to bring it to the present of 2022 and put your own feeling into it,” says Van der Meij.

According to KRO-NCRV, the fact that the character Mary Magdalene is only introduced in the twelfth edition of The Passion has to do with the fact that they have been making the event alone for two years now, and no longer with the EO. That made it easier to implement innovations, says the broadcaster. In addition, the broadcaster and PKN (Protestant Church Netherlands) wanted to make a sequel to The Passion for some time. Now that Ascension is also coming with The Passion, and Mary Magdalene has a major role in this, it was logical, according to KRO-NCRV, to now also introduce her to the Easter event.