Mini-Series Introduction: The Dovekeepers

The CBS four-hour limited event series The Dovekeepers will air on March 31 and April 1 from 9 to 11 PM (ET/PT).

The event series is based on the best-selling, critically-acclaimed historical novel by Alice Hoffman, focusing on a group of extraordinary women whose lives intersect in a fight for survival. Set in ancient Israel, The Dovekeepers is based on the true events at Masada in 70 C.E.

After being forced out of their home in Jerusalem by the Romans, 900 Jews were ensconced in a fortress at Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. Besieged at Masada, the Jews held out for months against the vast Roman armies.

The event series will recount the events from the perspective of a few extraordinary women who arrive at Masada with unique backstories, but a common bond for survival. Additionally, these women, who work together daily as dovekeepers, are all concealing substantial secrets.

These women include Shirah (Cote de Pablo of NCIS fame), a woman skilled in the healing arts. Her knowledge of herbal remedies helps her to survive, but also places a target on her back; Aziza, Shirah’s oldest daughter (Kathryn Prescott from Reign and Finding Carter), was raised as a boy prior to their time in Masada as a means of keeping her from harm. She disguise herself in her brother’s armor and skillfully fights alongside the male warriors of Masada, tricking even her lover and fellow warrior Amram and Yael (Rachel Brosnahan from Manhattan and The Blacklist) is a fearless young woman whose mother died in childbirth, and whose father forever blames her for that loss. During the dangerous journey she makes through the desert, she has a whirlwind romance which will haunt her even after she arrives as Masada. She is able to find comfort from her supportive warrior brother, Amram, and her kinship with fellow dovekeeper, Shirah.

The cast also includes Diego Boneta (Rock of Ages and Pretty Little Liars) as Amram, the brother of Yael and lover of Aziza. Amram followed in his father’s footsteps as an assassin in Jerusalem, later becoming one of the star warriors under Eleazar Ben Ya’ir (Mido Hamada from American Sniper and 24), the heroic leader of the Jewish army at Masada and veteran actor Sam Neill (Alcatraz and Jurassic Park) as Josephus, the somewhat controversial first century Jewish scholar and historian, who is seen interviewing the few adult survivors of the Siege on Masada in order to record the events that took place prior to and during the siege. These interviews were the firsthand accounts among the vast annals of history of the Jewish Roman War.

The Dovekeepers comes from executive producers Mark Burnett and his wife-actress Roma Downey (Touched By An Angel).