"It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting-room floor. This is now a movie about Jesus, the son of God, and the devil gets no more screen time," Downey told THR. "For our movie, Son of God, I wanted all of the focus to be on Jesus. I want his name to be on the lips of everyone who sees this movie, so we cast Satan out."

Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni played Satan in the miniseries. When The Bible originally debuted in 2013, the Satan/Obama comparison swept the media.

"History channel has the highest respect for President Obama," History said in a statement in 2013. "The series was produced with an international and diverse cast of respected actors. It's unfortunate that anyone made this false connection. History's The Bible is meant to enlighten people on its rich stories and deep history."