By India McCarty
Jonathan Roumie calls the fan response to THE CHOSEN “humbling” and “awe-inspiring.”
“Everything I do starts with prayer, so for me, it was about just praying that God would use me as a vessel to communicate His spirit in this story in a way that is so beautifully written by Dallas [Jenkins, THE CHOSEN’s creator] and his team,” he said during an appearance on HUCKABEE. “And to communicate, you know, the love and compassion of Christ and mercy of God to humanity and just try not to get in the way of that.”
Roumie called the response to THE CHOSEN “humbling” and “awe-inspiring,” adding, “It’s kind of incredible to think that you could be part of something that is so tangibly and substantially effective on people’s personal and spiritual lives.”
The actor then shared a story of a recent fan encounter. While waiting in line for coffee, Roumie struck up a conversation with two young women, one of whom was wearing a “Happy Easter” mask. It wasn’t until Roumie asked if the pair had seen THE CHOSEN that they recognized him.
“She immediately started breaking down in tears,” Jonathan Roumie recalled. “She’s like, ‘You have no idea how this show has ministered to me in my life the past year. I went through some super difficult times, and thank you.’ She just couldn’t stop thanking me.”
THE CHOSEN has captivated viewers around the world, regardless of whether or not they are Christian, and creator Dallas Jenkins likes it that way.
“I’m not ashamed that I’m an evangelical,” Jenkins said in a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m not ashamed that it’s a show about Jesus. But we really do believe that the show can be watched by anybody, and we just don’t want people turning it off before they watch it because of a label. I’m not trying to, through the art, convert anybody or preach anything. It’s a historical drama.”
In fact, a 2024 survey conducted by the show’s team found about 30% of THE CHOSEN’s viewers are either curious about Christian faith or have no Christian faith.
Related: Surprising Survey Reveals Just How Many of THE CHOSEN’s Viewers Are Christian
Roumie made similar comments in a recent interview with PEOPLE.
“When you say religious, a gate goes down in people’s minds that have sensitivities to that word — for whatever reason, whatever experience they’ve had — and all of a sudden they will not watch it,” he explained, but added, “I think [THE CHOSEN] can be a religious experience for certain people that watch the show.”
Roumie described it as “a historical drama that centers around the beginnings of this religious movement, this spiritual movement that irrevocably changed the world and has been changing real people watching the show.”
“There are people that are being converted watching the show in prison,” he explained. “There are people that have not been to a church in 30 years that are like, ‘I haven’t believed in God. Now I want to know who he is,’ and they start asking the questions.”
THE CHOSEN: THE LAST SUPPER Part One (episodes 1-2) and Part Two (episodes 3, 4, 5) are currently in select theaters nationwide. Part Three (episodes 6, 7, 8) will premiere April 11. All episodes of Season 5 will be available to stream on Prime Video later this year.
Read Next: Jonathan Roumie Teases ‘Intensity’ Coming in THE CHOSEN Season 5
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