MINNEAPOLIS — Those who assumed Kevin Sorbo retired after “Hercules” and “Andromeda” haven’t been paying attention to one of the film world’s hottest trends.

The Mound native has become a major player in faith-based movies, a genre that generated around $250 million domestically in 2025. One of Sorbo’s projects, 2014’s “God’s Not Dead” had a $2 million budget and ended up grossing more than $62 million.

In “Elijah Peel,” now in theaters, he plays the manager of a drug-addicted rock star who embraces Christianity after being inspired by a cancer patient.

As he chatted last week after a day of shooting in West Virginia, Sorbo, 67, fully embraced this new chapter of his career, as well as his support for President Donald Trump:

Q: According to IMDb, you’ve got 22 films coming up. How is that possible?

A: It’s kind of a boom time in the independent world. I directed one earlier this year that took a month to shoot, but normally I’m doing a lot of movies where they can squeeze in my part over four to eight days. At my age, I don’t have the patience to be around for a four-week shoot and sit around for two of those weeks. I’m supposed to be shooting a film at the Brainerd race track in September where I’m kind of like the Paul Newman character in “Cars.” I hope it happens. I’ve never shot in Minnesota before.

Q: Would you ever return to the grind of a TV series?

A: I loved “Hercules” and “Andromeda.” In the original made-for-TV movies for “Hercules,” Anthony Quinn played Zeus. I got to have dinner with him every Friday. We would rehearse in his trailer and he would say, “I’m not going to say this crap. I’m going to say something else and you’ll think of something. Right, sweetheart?” That was a crash course in really paying attention in a scene.

Q: What about sitcoms?

A: I love them. The live audience is a hoot. I did a pilot for a sitcom in 2005, “Bobby Cannon,” from an idea I came up with about a Chicago Bears quarterback who realizes his days are numbered. It was written by Barry Kemp, who did “Newhart.” He said it was the best thing he ever wrote. It tested No. 1 with audiences, but ABC didn’t pick it up. That was easily the biggest disappointment of my career. It’s all hit-and-miss. I like to work. I want to be like Clint Eastwood.

Q: Ever met him?

A: I know Clint pretty well. We met back in 1998, when we were doing a charity golf event for Steve Wynn. His 5-year-old daughter loved “Hercules.” He said she called me “Percules.” He always invites me to his movie openers. I told him once that all I ever wanted in life was one line in one of his movies.

Q: Why did you turn to faith-based movies?

A: For years, those kind of films were cheesy and looked cheap, but now they look great, a step up from Hallmark movies. I’m not a prude. I played a serial killer in “Julia X” (2011). I like a good action movie, too. But where I am in my life right now, I want to keep doing movies like “Peel,” where the stress factor is low and everyone is having a good time.

Q: Does your association with these movies make it harder to get other roles in Hollywood?

A: Probably. I don’t really have a manager or agent anymore. I’m doing fine on my own. I get emails from lots of people who say they want to do one of my movies. I tell them, “But we shoot on $2 million budgets.” That’s the catering budget for ”Pirates of the Caribbean." But they just want to do movies that have a good message.

Q: Was faith a big part of your childhood in Mound?

A: I grew up in St. John’s Lutheran Church. The pastor then was all fire and brimstone. Used to scare the hell out of me. I remember telling my parents when I was 7 that I don’t think God is that mad at us. When I was 13, Billy Graham did an outdoor revival at the St. Paul fairgrounds. There must have been 200,000 people there. I was sitting on the ground at one point, and all of a sudden I felt a hand on my head. It was Billy Graham. There was a full moon out that night and the light behind him was shining directly behind his head. We talked sports and school for three minutes before he moved on. That was huge.

Q: Movies like “Peel” never get much attention from the mainstream media. Does that bug you?

A: It did initially. I don’t get invited on late-night talk shows. I don’t care anymore. To me, it was always about the work. I remember going to the Guthrie when I was 11 and seeing “Merchant of Venice.” I didn’t know what the hell they were saying, but on the drive home I told my mom, “I’m going to be an actor.” My friends on the football and basketball teams would make fun of me but I would just say, “Yeah, but all the good-looking girls are in drama class.”

Q: I wonder if that experience helped prepare you for the backlash of being a President Trump supporter.

A: Has it hurt me in Hollywood? Yeah, it certainly hurt me. But that’s childish. The gays are out of the closet now. It’s the conservatives that are hiding. It’s really unfortunate. I don’t harbor anger towards people who have different points of view than me. Hollywood screams for tolerance, but it has no tolerance if you don’t agree with them. It’s hypocrisy.

Q: How long have you known Trump?

A: We met back in 2005. I was doing a charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe and the threesome for three days was Trump, Jesse Ventura and myself. I told Trump once at lunch that I always wanted a businessman to run America, not a politician. And he said, “Yeah, that makes sense to me.“ Do I agree with everything he’s doing right now? No. But I voted for Bill Clinton. I honestly look at what the person stands for. When Trump ran in 2016, it was refreshing to have a no-nonsense guy. He’s actually quite intelligent and funny.

Q: Is he really a good golfer?

A: He is. He’s literally a 6-to-8 handicapper. He can still hit 250-yard drives, which at his age, is amazing.

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC