THE CHOSEN Cast Reveals Their Most Painful Scene Yet
By Movieguide® Contributor
The most painful and emotional scene that THE CHOSEN cast endured is in Season 4: Episode 3, and it took six days to film.
Creator and director Dallas Jenkins, Yasmine Al-Bustami (Ramah) and Joey Vahedi (Thomas) broke down the “complex and tragic moment” in the Teddy Bear Award® winning show.
Warning! Spoilers ahead.
“Ramah is said to fill two roles in THE CHOSEN. She is one of the unnamed female disciples of Jesus and unnamed potential wives of the Apostles. In THE CHOSEN, Ramah is a friend and romantic interest of one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas. But the story of Thomas and Ramah took a sudden turn,” Church Leaders reported.
In the episode, Ramah gets stabbed by a Roman soldier when she stands up for Thomas and dies.
“It was an honorable way to go,” Jenkins said.
“I filmed the scene for six days and edited it for dozens of days because it’s such a complicated scene,” the director said. “Finally watching it all the way through with the music, I was breathless.”
Ramah’s last words were instructions for Thomas to stay committed to Jesus. “Stay with him, no matter what,” she said.
They didn’t discuss how to approach their scene beforehand but just went with the flow.
“Honestly, I just went with it,” Al-Bustami said. “I like when a scene takes days. Every day was very different.”
“The focus isn’t on yourself at that point,” said Vahedi, who would prepare by being alone with someone to stand guard to dissuade any who might interrupt him.
“It was really cool to be able to see all of the effects being added in — the music helped so much with the tone,” Vahedi added. “We’re all always there for each other whenever we’re filming. But that week in particular, it was like one of the strongest moments where everyone, no matter who was on screen, really wanted to do it for the other person — like to the maximum effort that they could. You could really feel that energy between everybody.”
Jenkins noted that in the face of death, all Ramah wanted was to follow Jesus.
“As she’s leaving, she’s still…she’s still following,” Jenkins said. “And she’s still wanting [Thomas] to follow.”
“To see how she still maintained her strength — even through the end. She gave her last strength still to the thing and the people and everything that she believed in,” Al-Bustami said. “I just feel like that’s so beautiful. I was so happy to be able to do that.”
Jenkins told her, “It was just such a gift to the show and to the viewer how much you gave yourself to that role.”
The cast found out that Ramah would die back when they were filming Season 2.
“Knowing where the character was headed helped solidify the importance of Ramah’s life and interaction with Thomas,” Church Leaders said.
“Throughout his time on THE CHOSEN, Vahedi remembered that he’s received offers of help from the very beginning. Even before cast members received scripts, he had a number of texts of encouragement,” Church Leaders said.
Actors also did the same for Al-Bustami, who emphasized the togetherness of the cast.
“It really was a village,” Al-Bustami said. “There’s just so many talented people behind the scenes that I don’t think we would be able to produce the way that we produce in such a beautiful environment if it weren’t for those people.”
“You’ll always be part of the family,” Jenkins told her.
Movieguide® previously reported on the show’s “intense” 4th season:
“Hopefully, everyone’s been warned,” Tabish, who plays Mary Magdalene, said. “It’s a really painful season; there’s a lot of grief in this season.”
The actress explained that she often thinks about the end of the show, saying, “I realized after each season’s finished filming, oh, there’s more, and it gets harder; it’s going to get harder and more painful.”
“It’s showing up to work every day in the sun outside, crying over and over and over with all your friends,” Tabish said of filming THE CHOSEN’s difficult scenes. “Every time it’s over, after each season, there’s this relief of like, ‘Oh, I can rest,’ but not for long, knowing what’s coming up the line.”
Jenkins’ wife, Amanda, explained that while Ramah’s story is fictional, the themes she carries aren’t.
She said, “The theme is in the scripture. The theme of God’s sovereignty, the theme of suffering, the theme of loss, those things are in scripture. So, as writers, the guys are not only pulling from story to story, but they are having to weave stories together with really the whole of scripture, and other theological messages that are alike.”
“They are just using this storyline of Ramah to say a number of things,” she continued. “Not only to tie together actual biblical content but also there’s just themes in the whole of scripture that we are going to be touching on through this.”
Jenkins said Ramah’s demise was written with “purpose and intention.”
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