Mehdi Dehbi portrayed the uncertainty of his Messiah character by keeping his intentions to himself

Variety

Asked whether his Netflix character is the true messiah or a manipulator, the Belgian actor says: "Whatever people want to project on him or on the story or on the show is part of the show itself. The show doesn’t want to impose anything on anyone ideologically or politically. It’s really a show that invites people to experience, rather than tell them what to believe. So whatever people want to project onto the character or onto the story, it’s totally valid, it’s totally fine. When it comes to my work and how I approached the character, there was a pact I made with the creator, Michael Petroni, for me to keep all of the intentions, all of the inside work, to myself. And to this day I’ve kept it to myself, so I think I’ll keep on doing."

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• Messiah is frustrating to watch because it doesn't provide a definite answer of whether its main character is the real deal
• Messiah is dramatically inert: The intercutting between various storylines consistently saps the momentum from each narrative
• Messiah is an entertaining 10-episode journey that puts the onus of deciding the truth on the viewer
• Give Messiah credit for even braving this terrain at all, in a thoughtful manner, when dealing with religion is invariably an invitation to controversy