Lifelong Victory: Insights on ‘The Chosen’ Seasons 4 and 5 from Creator Dallas Jenkins

“The Chosen” creator Dallas Jenkins opened up about Season 4, 5, and what fans can expect as the hit faith-based series gets back to filming.

Speaking to The Daily Wire, the creator of the series — which explores the life of Jesus through those who were closest to him — talked about the unique legal and financial challenges the series has faced with releasing Season 4 to the streaming site after releasing the season exclusively in theaters earlier this year.

Jenkins has been very transparent with his audience throughout the entire delay and says it has been, “painful and no one has been more frustrated about it than I am.”

“But I do promise that Season 4 is going to be very impactful, if you haven’t seen it yet,” he added. “And that in a few years when you look back you’re not going to remember these couple of months that we didn’t want to wait.”

In a press release on Wednesday, “The Chosen” announced the first episode of Season 4 will be available for streaming beginning on Sunday, June 2, with the second episode coming out the following Thursday, June 6.

“The wait is finally over,” Dallas Jenkins, creator, producer, director and writer of the hit series said in the release.

“The response from those who’ve seen Season 4 in theaters was that this is our best season, so I can’t wait to deliver these episodes free and easy to the world,” he added.

“We wanted to offer fans a chance to see it on the big screen together in theaters,” Jenkins continued. “But I’ve maintained the show will always ultimately be available free and easy, and we’re now ready for our livestreams, which are going to be bonkers this year.”

SEASON 4

“The Chosen” first three seasons were all available for fans to watch on the show’s app and stream for free with a message about paying it forward. Season 4 was the first time they opted to release it first exclusively in theaters. Jenkins said doing so helped with funding the show so that they can provide it for free to stream.

“Releasing it in theaters first not only allowed us to give the fans a great experience, and allowed those who were willing to pay for it to to see it on the big screen and to see it in community which is important to a lot of people, see it in the way that we really intended it,” the creator said.

“But it was also able to give us a little bit of a financial boost and we have to come up with creative ways to do that when we have a show that’s ultimately free and the people don’t have to pay for it if they don’t choose to,” he added. “So, when people are willing to do that, we want to definitely take advantage of that because we need it. We have a lot of money to raise, a lot to finance. We don’t have a studio or streaming platform that’s financing this whole operation.”

Season 4 is an emotional one with the feeling of impending doom surrounding Jesus and his followers. Jenkins talked to us about how he tries to strike a balance between the difficult parts of the greatest story in human history — about “life triumphs over death and good triumphs over evil” — and how vital it is for the audience to relate to Jesus’ disciples.

“But every good story also is not going to shy away from the pain,” Jenkins said. “And the pain and the sadness, and the impending doom is a part of life. I think it’s essential for audiences to go through with us.”

“Because maybe there’s some who don’t want to go through some of that pain but I think for others, they need to, they want to because they want to be able to relate to this story and to these people and to know that that the followers of Jesus in history, the builders of the early church … were human beings just like us,” he added.

“And they struggled just like we did and they have questions just like we do,” Jenkins continued. “And they experience poverty, oppression, and racism, and tribalism, and hardships and health problems just like we do. And that is so essential for the audience to understand and to know. Because when they relate to that then the answer and the hope that is provided can apply to them too.”

SEASON 5

Production on Season 5 has begun with more than three weeks so far of filming in Utah where 600 extras, from all over the world, were on set everyday for three weeks.

As for what fans can expect from Season 5, the creator of the series confirmed it’s going to be about Holy Week. Jenkins said that, just as the Gospel of Luke references the resoluteness of Jesus during the Passion Week, those working on the series have “absolutely” felt that same sense of resolve and urgency.

“The filming of Season 5, we are a few weeks into it, and it has really been overwhelming,” Jenkins said. “For three weeks we had 600 ‘Chosen’ fans per day on set in first-century costumes participating with us in some of these immensely important and life-changing events from scripture during Holy Week. The most impactful week in the history of the world.”

“Week one we filmed Jesus arriving in Jerusalem for Holy week and the actors were overwhelmed,” he added. “Several of them would come back after a take with tears streaming down their face talking about how humbling it was to see 600 people waving palm branches and chanting and singing and Romans on horseback and this big Jerusalem set that we’re filming on I mean it felt like we were in the first-century.”

“That’s happened a few times, filming moments from Holy Week, historical moments that were so impactful,” Jenkins continued. “Getting a chance to recreate those and see them in real time really is jaw dropping. And having the fans there with us and crying during some of these scenes, and supporting us and telling us that the show has changed their lives, is the fuel for us.

Jenkins couldn’t say whether all of Season 5 will be first released in theaters exclusively. He added that “it’s very likely they will release the entire thing in theaters first, but hopefully next time around there won’t be a delay in the streaming.”

As the creator of the hit series, Jenkins will often say “something special is happening on the set of ‘The Chosen,’” and he told The Daily Wire that is already evident during the filming of Season 5.

Obviously, Jesus’ character (played by Jonathan Roumie) is going to have a huge impact in the upcoming season, but another character he said the audience is going to get a deep dive into is Judas (played by Luke Dimyan).

Jenkins said during a press conference he loves looking into how Jesus’ followers didn’t know it was Judas who betrayed him.

“How they wrestle with the fact that something bad is happening,” Jenkins said. “Jesus outright told the disciples one of you will betray me. How did this impact Judas? Who is it that Judas first approached? Specifically, the Romans, the religious leaders? How did it happen without the disciples knowing. The betrayal in Season 5 is really exciting and heartbreaking.”

Popularity Growing

The creator of the series also talked about its growing popularity, noting that when singers like Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani post on X about watching and loving the show, news outlets have to pay attention.

Shelton recently took to X and wrote to his 19 million followers, “Random two thumbs up from a country singer… Just finished season 3 of ‘The Chosen’ and I absolutely love it. No question in my mind why it’s a worldwide phenomenon.” Stefani added, “[BlakeShelton] Obsessed, Can’t wait for season 4 [thechosenTv] u better not watch w out me!! Gx.”

“… they aren’t journalists, but when the Kardashians and Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton are tweeting about how much they love the show, at some point it [success] becomes undeniable and at some point, whether you are a mainstream or faith-based journalist, you can’t deny what’s growing,” Jenkins said during a press conference later.

With over 200 million viewers, “The Chosen” is one of the most-watched shows in the world, a press release noted. The series is consistently a top performer across streaming platforms Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Netflix plus a top-rated broadcast weekly on The CW.

SEASON 6

Looking ahead, Season 6 will deal entirely with the crucifixion and Season 7 the resurrection. Jenkins, who didn’t want to get ahead of the current season they are working on, did say that he recently read the script for episode one of Season 6 and could say that, “I’m absolutely just telling you we are doing it in a way that’s never been done.”

“And it’s really going to blow people away,” he added. “These last few seasons I think are not only going to be the best seasons but they are going to justify the time that we have taken to set them up with the first four seasons.”

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases