How THE CHOSEN Is ‘All Going According to Plan’
By Movieguide® Contributor
As the filming of Season 5 of THE CHOSEN wrapped up, the hit series’ showrunner Dallas Jenkins chatted with Movieguide®’s Jeremy Carroll about the impact of Season 4 and what to expect this next season.
“It’s all…going according to plan. We’re not over budget or behind or anything like that,” Jenkins told Carroll. “So that’s always step one.”
Season 5 will depict some of the main events of Holy Week — the Triumphal Entry, the Turning of the Tables in the temple and the Last Supper.
“We’re capturing the most famous and impactful week in the history of the world…Holy Week,” he said.
“I’m really excited for people to get a chance to see it next year,” Jenkins added.
The writer/director is most excited about the audience’s connection with the disciples as they see the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion from their perspective.
“[W]hat would it have been like to be there?” Jenkins stated. “What would the disciples have thought when they watch their rabbi who has the opportunity to unite the people, because at the beginning of the week, they’re all singing his praises literally.”
Jenkins points out that Jesus’ followers would have been expecting a Messiah that would “overthrow their oppressors.”
“Within a couple days, He not only doesn’t do that. He does the opposite,” Jenkins stated. “He divides everybody, gets everyone ticked off at Him, or at least the majority, so fast and so thoroughly that by the end of the week, they want Him dead.”
“[W]e as Americans, looking back on it, 2,000 years later, can say, ‘Well, it all makes sense now, when He was the savior of the world and He saved our sins,” he continued. “Well, that’s not what they expected or understood back then.”
Season 6 will portray the crucifixion, which the writer anticipates will be challenging to film, but will make Season 7, which will depict the resurrection, “sweet as almost any portrayal in history,” Jenkins shares.
Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus reflected on filming Season 5 and the anticipation of the upcoming last two seasons.
“When I last left my house before I started filming in Utah in April, I took a look around, and I thought, ‘The next time I see this place, I will have completed [shooting] the Last Supper in the Garden of Gethsemane,’ and I was overwhelmed with emotion because that means the journey’s almost over,” Roumie revealed on the “Pints With Aquinas” podcast.
THE CHOSEN was picked up by the CW network and aired the first episode of the fourth season this month. Jenkins said while he is excited about his series being picked up by major networks, he is more excited about the spiritual impact the groundbreaking show will have by reaching people who might not see it otherwise.
“[T]hat people are watching and tuning in and that it’s right in the mix with all these other projects that we wouldn’t normally put next to a Jesus project, that really is the goal or the hope…that a show that’s so clearly and explicitly about Jesus isn’t relegated to just the church or just faith channels or faith outlets,” he told Movieguide®.
Check out the rest of Movieguide®’s interview with Jenkins here:
Movieguide® previously reported on the filming of season five of the show:
Even though it’s been over half a year since the cast wrapped filming for Season 4, they felt like they were able to quickly return to their characters and fall into their close relationships.
“I blinked by eyes, and I’m starting season five now. Has there been a break? I don’t know. It’s nice weather—that’s a first for THE CHOSEN,” Elizabeth Tabish said.
“I’m proud of how we’ve really settled into our familiarity with each other and our sense of family,” added Abe Bueno-Jallad. “A lot of things are shifting so quickly, and I’m allowing myself to be impacted by them because this just feels like such a different season.”
Despite the comfort they feel, the cast is aware of the weightiness of what they are portraying. After an emotional end to Season 4, Season 5 brings Jesus to the brink of the crucifixion, walking through the events of Holy Week.
“The response we’ve been getting from the cast and crew has been so cool,” said creator Dallas Jenkins. “They’ve been saying this is the best season yet. Season 5, as you might know, covers Holy Week. But man, it takes longer than a week to film it, I can tell you that.”
