Best known for his role in Yellowstone, Kevin Costner is turning his attention to the Nativity as he hosts a new Christmas broadcast.

Costner is the host of the upcoming two-hour ABC special, The First Christmas, airing on Dec. 9. The program will include reenactments of the Nativity story, focusing on bringing the reality of Mary and Joseph’s journey to life. 

“When I decided to do this, I felt it was really important,” said Costner in an interview with The Christian Post. “I make sports movies, cowboy movies and dramas, adult movies, if you will, and sometimes you’re not always dealing with your faith. People may not think of me in that way. I wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t important to me, because of how I was raised. I was raised in a Baptist church.”

Growing up going to church, Costner recalled being a shepherd in a Christmas play. 

“Everyone agreed that I should explain my entry into religion,” he said. “I didn’t want to just be a famous face in front of a religious story. I wanted to be very human about it. The story is the story, and I felt that if I humanized myself a little bit, maybe the entry into a story we think we know so well becomes more human, too.”

The retelling allows viewers to see the vulnerability of the situation, including the fact that Mary was just an unwed teenage girl.

“Babies were slaughtered over this issue. A proclaimed king was coming according to prophecy. These were real times, Roman rule, unstable cultures, and the stakes were incredibly high. Life wasn’t valued the way we think of it today. They had to protect their lives and protect their child, whom we proclaim as the Son of God. For them, it was a fight for life at such a young age. That really lodged the story for me.”

A Christian in the Spotlight

Costner says that while his roles in movies or TV hasn’t been filled with his Christian faith, it’s been an anchor for him. 

“I’ve been tested, but I’ve also been propped up through my religion,” Costner said. “You can be in a room with intellectuals who don’t believe, and they can ask you two or three questions that stop you cold. But faith is something you hold inside you. You understand it, and it guides how you behave, especially in critical situations.”

The story that’s been retold for over 2,000 years has merit and value, according to Costner. The actor invites everyone, skeptics included, to watch the program and judge it’s validity for themselves. 

“I invited the cynic to sit with us,” Costner said. “They don’t have to believe, but they do recognize that this story has endured. Will the names we see today still be remembered for thousands of years, for good or bad? For Christians, it centers on the birth of this child, the promise that He was coming, and the message He would bring of peace, of how you treat your neighbor, and how you live morally under very tough conditions. It’s a chance to refocus, to recalibrate, to take stock of the people who matter to us.”