The Chosen is an American Christian religious-historical drama television series, created, directed, and co-written by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins. It is the first multi-season series about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, primarily set in Judaea and Galilee in the first century. The series depicts Jesus's life through the eyes of the people who interacted with him, including the apostles and disciples of Jesus, Jewish religious leaders, Roman government and military officials, and ordinary people. The series stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus alongside Shahar Isaac, Elizabeth Tabish, Paras Patel, Noah James, and George H. Xanthis, among a large cast of others. Five seasons have been released, with the sixth season to be released in November 2026, and the seventh (final) season scheduled to be released in 2028.
The series is free to watch and has used a variety of different business models and distribution methods. The first season was financed through crowdfunding, becoming the most successful crowd-funded TV series in history. Season 1 was released in 2019 on the VidAngel platform with a subscription required, but the producers temporarily made it free to watch in response to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when millions of people were staying home—and revenue actually went up. They eventually decided to make all seasons free to watch, though there would be exclusivity windows. Seasons 3 and 4 premiered in movie theaters before being released to various streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. In 2025, Jenkins announced a deal with Amazon MGM Studios to premiere episodes of Seasons 5, 6, and 7 in theaters, followed by a 90-day exclusivity window on Amazon Prime Video, before being made available for free. As of May 2025, The Chosen grossed over US$120 million in its theatrical releases.
The show has been watched by an estimated 280 million people worldwide, a third of whom are not religious. The response has been generally positive among Christians, though there have been various controversies over aspects of the show. It has won three Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards, three K-Love Fan Awards, two Epiphany Prize from Movieguide and a Pillar Award from the Museum of the Bible.
The series is internationally distributed by Lionsgate, and translation into other languages is funded by the non-profit Come and See Foundation. The show has been adapted into a series of novels by Jenkins's father Jerry B. Jenkins, a series of graphic novels by Corvus Comics, and companion Bible study materials published by David C. Cook. The success of the series led to the creation of 5&2 Studios which has developed two spin-off series, animated TV series The Chosen Adventures and adventure series The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls.
Synopsis Set in 1st-century Galilee, the first season chronicles Jesus starting to build a group of disciples and his ministry, inviting people with different backgrounds to study under him. As he performs his first miracles, including turning water into wine in Cana, Jesus calls the former demoniac Mary Magdalene; the stonemason Thaddeus; the choir member Little James; the fishermen Simon, Andrew, Big James, and John; the caterer Thomas; the vintner Ramah; and the tax collector Matthew to follow him. Following Jesus's meeting with the Pharisee Nicodemus, the season culminates with the group traveling through Samaria, where Jesus launches his public ministry after revealing himself to Photina, a Samaritan woman.
Beginning in Samaria, the second season moves into nearby regions such as Syria and Judea, where Jesus continues to build his group of students. As he continues to perform miracles, including healing the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda, while preparing for a significant sermon, Jesus additionally calls John the Baptizer's disciple Philip, the architect Nathanael, and the Zealot Simon Z. As the word of Jesus spreads throughout the region, he encounters both opportunities and difficulties. The season ends on the preparations for Jesus's Sermon on the Mount with the help of the business apprentice Judas Iscariot.
Returning to Capernaum, the third season portrays the increasing popularity of Jesus, which troubles different societal and political groups, including the Romans and the Pharisees. Following the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus sends his twelve apostles, two by two, to preach and perform miracles without him—their biggest challenge yet. Jesus then returns to his hometown, Nazareth, which results in a shift to his ministry in the year of his greatest popularity. After multiple miraculous occurrences, the season closes in the Decapolis and at the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus feeds thousands with loaves and fishes and then walks on the water.
Starting in Machaerus with the death of John the Baptizer, the fourth season unfolds the last year of the ministry of Jesus as Jesus bears the weight of his mission alone as his adversaries converge on him while his disciples struggle to keep pace with him. As Jesus performs his last miracles, such as healing a man born blind, and transforms his followers, such as changing Simon's name to Peter, the group leaves Capernaum and journeys to Judea and Perea, where they face violent opposition to Jesus's message, including the death of Ramah. When the Jewish religious leaders side with the Roman authorities following Jesus's last sign of raising Lazarus from the dead, the season concludes with Jesus making his way to Jerusalem.
Entering Jerusalem, the fifth season sets out the first five days of the final week of Jesus's ministry as the people of Israel receive him as their king and his disciples expect his reign. During the Passover week, he cleanses the Temple rather than overthrowing Rome. Fearing Jesus's influence, the religious authorities, including Joseph Ben Caiaphas, and the political rulers, including Pontius Pilate, handle it differently. After his final public sermon and farewell discourses, Jesus initiates his Last Supper with the Twelve Apostles in the Upper Room. Once the group heads to the Garden of Gethsemane, the season wraps up with an upset Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus.
Main cast
Shahar Isaac as Simon Peter Jonathan Roumie as Jesus Elizabeth Tabish as Mary Magdalene Paras Patel as Matthew the Apostle Noah James as Andrew Janis Dardaris as Zohara (season 1; guest season 5) Lara Silva as Eden (seasons 1 and 3–5; guest season 2) Shaan Sharma as Shmuel Nick Shakoour as Zebedee George H. Xanthis as John the Apostle Shayan Sobhian as Big James (season 1, episodes 1–4) Erick Avari as Nicodemus (seasons 1 and 5) Kian Kavousi as Big James (season 1, episodes 5–8) Brandon Potter as Quintus Benedictus Dio (seasons 1 and 3–4; recurring season 2) Kirk B. R. Woller as Gaius (seasons 1 and 3–5; recurring season 2) Giavani Cairo as Thaddeus Jordan Walker Ross as Little James Abe Bueno-Jallad as Big James (seasons 2–5) Joey Vahedi as Thomas (seasons 2–5; guest season 1) Yasmine Al-Bustami as Ramah (seasons 2–4; guest seasons 1 and 5) Vanessa Benavente as Mary of Nazareth (seasons 2–5; guest season 1) Yoshi Barrigas as Philip (seasons 2–3) Austin Reed Alleman as Nathanael (seasons 2–5) Alaa Safi as Simon Z. (seasons 2–5) Luke Dimyan as Judas Iscariot (seasons 3–5; guest season 2) Ivan Jasso as Yussif (seasons 3–5; recurring seasons 1–2) Amber Shana Williams as Tamar (seasons 3–5; recurring season 2; guest season 1) Elijah Alexander as Atticus Aemilius Pulcher (seasons 3–5; recurring season 2) Reza Diako as Philip (seasons 4–5)
Episodes
Background and production
Development
In 2017, working through his production company, Vertical Church Films, Dallas Jenkins released a feature-length film, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone; the film did not perform to the studio's expectations at the box office. While working to determine his next project, Jenkins began binge-watching different television shows and realized there had never been a multi-season show about Jesus that could be watched in the same way.
Jenkins returned to a script for a short film called The Shepherd. Filmed on a friend's farm in Marengo, Illinois, Jenkins wrote the screenplay and intended the film be shown during a Christmas Eve service at his church, Harvest Bible Chapel in Elgin, Illinois. Expanding on that idea, he came up with the concept for The Chosen as a multi-season story arc about the life of Jesus that could build a backstory based on cultural and historical context. This allowed him to focus more on the people who encountered and followed Jesus, viewing him through their eyes and thus presenting Jesus in a way that was more "personal, intimate, [and] immediate".
Faith-based video streaming service VidAngel became aware of The Shepherd and showed interest in expanding on the concept of a Jesus-based series. At the time, VidAngel was involved in a lawsuit with major Hollywood studios and thus seeking original content to distribute. They suggested putting the short film on Facebook as a series pilot to see if interest would be generated for a multi-season show. Jenkins expressed that he was not totally on board with the potential of crowdfunding, but decided to give the platform a try. The short film received over 15 million views around the world.
VidAngel, along with Jenkins and video marketing strategist Derral Eves, turned to the crowdfunding business model to produce The Chosen. A provision in the JOBS Act that went into effect in 2016 allowed them to offer shares of ownership and profits from the production rather than the arbitrary perks offered by regular crowdfunding. The first fundraising round raised $11 million from more than 16,000 investors for the project, each of whom received equity in the project. This surpassed Mystery Science Theater 3000 as the top crowdfunded TV series project. Their equity stake allows them to share in profits not only from the show itself but also from other revenue sources, such as merchandise, books, and Bible-study materials. Majority shareholders will not receive a share of the profits until the original investors earn 120% of their investments.
After funding the first season by selling equity, the show has utilized traditional crowdfunding for subsequent seasons, along with a model that offers more traditional crowdfunding perks, such as appearing as an extra in the film. Season 2 fundraising had raised over $6 million from more than 300,000 contributors as of July 1, 2020. As with previous seasons, the producers continue to use the pay-it-forward model developed by Angel Studios to help fund the development of the show's future seasons. Through 2021, the average contribution through crowdfunding efforts was $65.
In October 2022, the creators partnered with a new nonprofit, the Come and See Foundation, which was created to manage the show's funding. The nonprofit status allows contributors to receive a tax deduction for their donations. In March 2024, Jenkins announced a delay in the streaming release of season 4 for legal reasons stemming from a dispute between The Chosen, LLC and Angel Studios, noting that the production costs of the series were proving the previous method of crowdfunding to be unsustainable.
The show also raises revenue through licensing to other streaming platforms and TV networks, video and merchandise sales, and limited premiere runs in movie theaters.
Seven seasons of the series are planned. In 2023, former DreamWorks executive Mark Sourian was hired to lead development of an entertainment universe with future films and shows based on the original series.
Script In contrast with typical Bible-focused productions, Jenkins has given more depth to his scripts by adding backstories to various characters from the gospels without contradicting material that is present. This is noted in the opening credits of the first episode, which include the following: