Cover Story
The Chosen has become a cultural phenomenon in recent years, with the filmed story of Jesus’ life engaging Christians and non-believers alike- and bringing families together in front of the screen. The fifth season of the hit show- which focuses on the events of Holy Week- debuts in theaters on March 28, 2025. According to creator Dallas Jenkins, the enthusiastic responses to both the streaming and theatrically released episodes have reinforced his goal in creating the project. “We’ve seen that people have been able to share this show with friends or family members who are typically resistant to church or the Bible,” Jenkins said. “And we discovered that it’s broken down cultural barriers, age barriers, and ethnic barriers. When I have a parent come up to me and say my eight-year-old watches the show or our teenager watches it with me, that really blew away any expectations we had for it.”
The Inspiration. Jenkins said that his primary goal in creating The Chosen has been to honor God and the character of Jesus as seen in the Gospels and to do it in a high-quality way. As a child, Jenkins (whose father is Jerry Jenkins, the bestselling author of the Left Behind series) often imagined what life would have been like by Jesus’ side. He asked questions like: What would it have been like sitting around the campfire with Jesus? Did Jesus burp as a kid? What kind of friend was he? As he got older, those questions became more complex. “Jesus drew thousands of people to Him, including children,” he mused. “He must have been very charismatic and compelling, much more so than the dry Jesus we often get. You see Him in a stained-glass window, or you watch Him in a movie, and He still feels like a stained-glass window.” Jenkins felt drawn to storytelling at a young age and was encouraged by his father to use his gift. And when his father introduced him to classic movies like The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde, he began to fall in love with filmmaking. “When he showed me One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, that was the one that made me want to make movies,” he said.
Jenkins began to envision a project about the life of Christ years before The Chosen first appeared on screen in 2017. He explains that back in 2015 he met and cast Jonathan Roumie as Jesus in a short film for the Jenkins’ church in Illinois. “I thought to myself, this is the best portrayal of Jesus I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Even in this small production, you could see it. We did vignettes and short films together over the next few years, even though we didn’t know what it was leading to.” Roumie, whose father was born in Egypt and is of Syro-Lebanese descent and whose mother is from Ireland, worked as a voice actor and guest star on television before meeting Jenkins in 2014. In addition to starring as Jesus in The Chosen, he played charismatic evangelist Lonnie Frisbee in the 2023 movie Jesus Revolution. He’s a devout Catholic who narrates the prayer app “Hallow” and often hosts live prayers on social media. According to Jenkins, finding Roumie was key to the portrayal of Jesus he wanted to achieve.
The Jesus in The Chosen is one that’s authentic to both His divinity and humanity. It shows why people were drawn to Him; His friendship, kindness, and even humor make Him “real” to the people He encountered during this short ministry. Jenkins said that his team wanted to show the human characteristics that reveal that “the creator of the universe is God with us.” Jenkins said that Roumie captures those aspects of Jesus’ humanity perfectly, while also being an example of a God-honoring celebrity. “Jonathan is an extraordinary actor who is completely surrendered to God and wants to get this right,” he said. “He wants to empty himself so that there’s less of him and more of God in his portrayal. We are divinely tied and knit together to make Jesus known and understood.” Jenkins stresses, though, that The Chosen is not creating a “new” Jesus. “We’re trying to make Him real through this medium to put a spotlight on who the real Jesus is,” he explained. Jenkins and his cast and crew are currently filming the sixth season. The show will conclude with the seventh season, which will be filmed in 2026 and released in 2027. All seasons can be watched on the show’s dedicated website (watch.thechosen.tv/) and early seasons were played on The CW and other outlets. The show has also been shown in theaters, and the fifth season will debut first in movie theaters ahead of Easter and then be available at its new Amazon Prime streaming home.
The Reaction. The Chosen has been viewed close to 200 million times and has become a touchstone for experiencing Jesus in a brand-new way in today’s media world. But Jenkins said that he never had expectations of success; he simply wanted to go where God led him. “My vision at the beginning was just one step in front of the other. I was trying to get Season 1 done, but I knew where I wanted it to go if we had the capability to do seven seasons,” he said. “If I start thinking about the response, then I start feeling the pressure. I’m so reliant on doing right by God that I honestly just don’t care about the response.” Jenkins uses the Gospel story of the bread and fish to describe how he envisions God using the show for His glory. He said that his team concentrates on providing “the best five loaves and two fish that can be” and then letting God accept their product. He trusts in God to accept the transaction and then multiply and feed as many people as needed. “If he wants to feed the 5,000… or in our case, 200 million… that’s up to Him, and I’ll do my job to give a good product,” he explains. That lesson, he said, is one that relates to the success of The Chosen– but also to daily life for the Christian. “If you can give up the fear, it can become your superpower and the only way to do that is to have a broken moment of surrender. You have to acknowledge to God that you truly want to be in His will,” Jenkins said. “And then in practice, you change your habits. If you start looking at your numbers on your social media posts or how many people show up for your ministry, or how successful you’ve become in whatever career or ministry you’ve set for yourself, it can be crippling. You want to replace those moments with Scripture, with prayer and new habits.” Today, Jenkins is encouraged by the stories he hears of people experiencing the Jesus story in new and transformative ways. He hears often from people who have shared the show with friends and family members who are typically resistant to Christian activities. Other people have told him that The Chosen has brought them back to their faith. “We hear things like ‘I haven’t been to church in a long time, and now I’m going back’ or ‘My family member and I haven’t had anything to talk about in a long time and now we do.’ The show isn’t Scripture, it’s not the end game, but it’s a tool that can be used to draw people to Jesus.”
The Family Connection. Jenkins said he was especially surprised by the way The Chosen has resonated with children and entire families. While he acknowledges that the show is a challenging adult-themed show (“it’s not a flannelgraph presentation of Jesus”), he’s learned that parents and children can experience it together. “I didn’t expect it to be multi-generational,” he said, “but parents are telling me that they’re talking about Jesus for the first time. We’ve been seeing a huge family response.” That response is what Jenkins calls the most “surprising and God-breathed” part of the process. Following the response to The Chosen, production began on an animated children’s spin-off called The Chosen Adventures. The show, which is slated to be released later this year, follows the story of Abigail and Joshua (two lead characters from the third episode of Season 1 of The Chosen) as children in Capernaum who encounter Jesus and learn lessons from Him. Jenkins said that it’s a wonderful way to “see Jesus through kids’ eyes.” The project is a bit of a family affair for Jenkins himself, with his father authoring novels based on each Chosen season and his wife Amanda co-writing Chosen Bible studies, devotionals, and books for children. “If you want to dig deeper, we’ve got some really extraordinary material,” Jenkins said.
The End Story. Part One of Season 5 will be released in theaters on March 28, Part Two on April 4, and Part Three on April 11. The season is titled The Chosen Last Supper and portrays what Jenkins calls “the most impactful and devastating week in the history of the world.” It starts where the fourth season left off- at Jesus’ triumphal entry- and emotions run high; there is extreme joy and excitement alongside anger and confusion. “People are worshiping, enemies are nervous and there’s a powder keg in the city,” Jenkins explained. While releasing this season, production has continued for Season 6, which will cover the crucifixion, and plans are underway for Season 7, which will cover the resurrection. Jenkins describes it as a “really heavy year of releasing and filming things.” Through it all, Jenkins said that God’s hand has been on the entire project. From the show’s inception and early production to its reception from Christians and other viewers around the world, there’s been a plan. Jenkins puts it simply: “God has clearly had something to say.”
-Cheryl Wray
