Season five of “The Chosen” will be the “biggest yet,” focusing on of Jesus’ final days and the deeply personal and emotional moments that defined His ministry and relationships, creator Dallas Jenkins has revealed.
“I’m probably more excited to bring this season to the world than any season we’ve ever done,” the 49-year-old director told The Christian Post. “It’s our biggest season yet. It’s on the biggest stage. This demands to be seen on the big screen more than in any season we’ve ever done, even the cameras we use, the lenses we used.
“This was meant to be big, and yet, my favorite stuff about this season are the small moments, the intimate moments, the time we spend with Jesus and His followers at the Last Supper. […] He spends some time with the women followers and his mother before he does with the men. And there’s so much beauty and intimacy mixed with the pain of what’s to come that that is just imbued throughout this season and the performances from our cast.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
“The Chosen: Last Supper,” which will be in theaters beginning March 28, highlights the tension between the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the looming betrayal of Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) by Judas (Luke Dimyan).
“There’s some pain this season, but Jesus also kicks a little butt before season six,” Jenkins shared. “Season six is going to be awful, of course, working on the scripts for that right now. But season five, there’s just so much kick butt stuff mixed in with some really beautiful intimacy that I just can’t wait for you to see.”
With “The Chosen” planned as a seven-season series, season five serves as a critical bridge between Jesus’ ministry and His ultimate sacrifice, Jenkins said, adding he’s pacing the story to ensure that each chapter reflects both the struggles and triumphs of the disciples’ journey.
“Season four had a lot of intensity,” he said. “We saw the loss of Ramah, we saw wrestling with sadness throughout the entire season, even from Jesus Himself. But if Seasons four, five and six are just sad for eight episodes each year, that’s just too much — it doesn’t reflect the full experience. Season five is not the calm before the storm, because it’s not calm at all.”
Instead, Jenkins describes Jesus as increasingly confrontational, challenging both the religious and political establishments with unprecedented force.
“There’s this long passage of Scripture where Jesus goes after the Pharisees; He talks about, ‘How can you escape being condemned to Hell?’” Jenkins noted. “It’s these intense scenes, big scenes on a big scale, and where Jesus is … unleashing all of His, in many ways, fury at the temple, at the system that has hijacked the original intentions of the law of God’s relationship with His people. Jesus is not having it anymore.
Before He goes to the cross, He is going to make sure that when a million people are all gathered in Jerusalem at one time, including His followers and His enemies, He’s going to make sure they hear everything they need to hear. That’s the tone of the season. It’s very intense and passionate, and you see a side of Jesus you’ve never seen before.”
Given the gravity of the material, balancing intensity and levity was crucial, Jenkins said.
“The table is set. The people of Israel welcome Jesus as king while His disciples anticipate His crowning. But — instead of confronting Rome — He turns the tables on the Jewish religious festival. Their power threatened, the country’s religious and political leaders will go to any length to ensure this Passover meal is Jesus’ last,” reads the season description.
“Offset, in between filming scenes, we can’t just spend four months in this atmosphere of pain and sadness,” Jenkins explained. “We have to have some levity; we have to keep ourselves sane.”
He reflected on ongoing conversations with Roumie about how to gradually build toward the emotional weight of the crucifixion.
“Up until He gets to the cross, Jesus is a combination of love, peace, gentleness, anger, joy and happiness,” he said. “That doesn’t all go away, even during Holy Week.”
However, he acknowledged that the upcoming season six, which covers the final 24 hours of Jesus’ life, will be even more emotionally challenging to film.
“It’s all about the cross and getting to the cross. And I don’t know yet how some of those conversations are going to go during filming, and how each member of the cast is going to have their own method of reacting to and preparing for some of these scenes that are so emotional and painful,” he said. “Each person’s different. That’s my job as a director is to kind of be a psychologist on set.”
As “The Chosen” has grown in popularity — the show recently landed a deal with Amazon Prime — so too has scrutiny over its creative decisions. When faced with criticism, Jenkins said he always emphasizes the show’s biblical foundation while acknowledging its artistic elements.
“If I was doing things to avoid criticism or gain praise, the show would be crippled by my own neuroses,” he said. “I hope people watch with an open mind and open heart. Sometimes, what we’ve heard or assumed isn’t always accurate.”
Jenkins recently addressed concerns over a scene from season five in which Jesus tells Judas, “I will pray for you.” Some critics argued that the moment strayed from Scripture, but Jenkins told CP the scene “does not contradict the character and intentions of Jesus.”
“My foundation is built on the rock of God’s Word, and on the Creator of the universe,” he said. “This show is made by flawed human beings, so there might be some things that you disagree with. … I don’t think that Jesus praying for one of His followers, including the one who’s going to betray Him, should be that controversial or that shocking. And I just hope that people approach it from that regard.”
Jenkins also highlighted the educational impact of “The Chosen,” sharing a personal anecdote about one of his children who was surprised to learn about Caiaphas, the high priest.
“This is one of my own kids, who’s been to Bible school and church their whole life,” he recalled. “And they hadn’t remembered Caiaphas. My point is that sometimes a show like this drives people to Scripture, and that’s a good thing.”
Jenkins, the son of Left Behind author Jerry B. Jenkins, said that despite growing up in the Church, season five of “The Chosen” also led him to rediscover elements of Jesus’ final week that he hadn’t deeply considered before.
“For example, there’s a scene where Jesus is in the temple talking to a crowd, and He gets weighed down by what’s coming,” Jenkins said. “He says, ‘My soul is troubled,’ and for a moment He wrestles with whether He should ask God to relieve Him of this burden. Then He says, ‘No, this is my hour. This is why I’m here.’ […] I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s going to be a funky thing to try to capture.’”
The director, who also serves as an advisor on the Amazon Prime show “House of David,” also spent time revisiting the story of the fig tree, in which Jesus curses a barren tree.
“Why would He do that? He’s angry at the tree. Holy Week was weird, man,” he quipped. “It was also interesting to see how many times Jesus told the disciples what was going to happen, and they just didn’t get it. […] It’s a nice life lesson for us to make sure that that we’re not letting our own humanity get in the way of what God has for us.”
“Portraying those moments anew has been fascinating and life-giving for me, and I think it will be for the audience as well,” Jenkins added.
As anticipation builds for the theatrical release of “The Chosen: Last Supper,” Jenkins told CP he hopes viewers will approach it not just as entertainment but as an opportunity for spiritual engagement.
“I just hope that people see that, even with some of the artistic imagination that we’re doing that’s not directly from Scripture, that it is imbued with Scripture, and that it is inspired by Scripture, and that it can hopefully engage you with Scripture,” he said.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
