A struggling pastor inherits his family’s church in a broken New York neighbourhood. Tyler Perry filmed most of it on his own 330-acre backlot in Atlanta. But then the production did something unexpected – it went to Bellingham, Washington, and the residents of Whatcom County stayed up past their bedtime to watch.
Tyler Perry’s The Gospel of Christmas is written, directed and produced by Perry for Netflix. Durrell “Tank” Babbs plays Isaac, a pastor who inherits the church and must save it – from foreclosure, from a sinister adversary played by Ricco Ross, and from his own doubt – before Christmas. Fantasia Barrino plays his wife Rebecca. Kirk Franklin produced the music. And then there is the choir.
CeCe Winans. Yolanda Adams. Shirley Caesar. The Clark Sisters. Fred Hammond. Hezekiah Walker. Smokie Norful. Jekalyn Carr. Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Ann Nesby. Le’Andria Johnson. Chanté Moore. Pastor John Gray. That is not a cast list. That is a gospel summit.
“All the special legends of the Gospel that Tyler Perry placed in one room,” Fantasia told People. Perry said the project began with “the songs that inspired me, that got me through some really, really rough times.”
Principal photography began on November 5, 2025, in Atlanta, and continued for several weeks before wrapping in December. The production was based at Tyler Perry Studios – the 330-acre facility on the former Fort McPherson military base at One Tyler Perry Studio Way. The studio complex includes twelve purpose-built sound stages and permanent standing sets: a bank, a courtroom, a police station, a prison yard, residential blocks, the White House. The backlot can become any American city without leaving the property line.
For The Gospel of Christmas, the production team used the studio’s New York City streetscape – a permanent architectural set on the backlot, constructed to mimic the blocks, facades and sidewalks of a New York neighbourhood. The trailer shows Isaac and Rebecca standing outside their inherited church on a street filled with graffiti, trash and a car on cinder blocks. None of it is New York. All of it is a backlot in southwest Atlanta, designed and dressed to look like a borough that exists only on camera.
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The church at the centre of the story – the building Isaac inherits, the space where the gospel legends eventually gather – is a fictional church facade located on the Tyler Perry Studios backlot. It was constructed as a permanent architectural set, part of the New York City streetscape designed for Perry’s productions. The church serves as the central setting for the film. It is not a real house of worship. It is a set piece, built to look like one, standing on the same backlot where Perry has filmed dozens of productions over the past decade.
In late September 2026, the production travelled to Bellingham, Washington. Overnight shoots took place around September 23 to 24 on North State Street in downtown Bellingham – including the exterior of The Shakedown, the city’s popular live music venue, and the neighbouring bar The Racket, along with surrounding storefronts near Holly and Chestnut streets.
The filming drew considerable attention throughout Whatcom County as crews worked at several locations. Bellingham residents gathered on the streets to watch the overnight shoot – a Tyler Perry production rolling through a Pacific
The Gospel of Christmas premieres on Netflix on November 11, 2026.
Netflix // Tyler Perry official site // YouTube
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© Amazon MGM Studios, Civic Center Media // Photo Justin Lubin
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© Netflix // Photo Diyah Pera
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