Why Dallas Jenkins Showed Jesus’ ‘Humanity’ in THE CHOSEN Season 4 Finale
By Movieguide® Contributor
Dallas Jenkins is sharing his thoughts on showing Jesus’ humanity in THE CHOSEN’s Season 4 finale, as well as what fans can expect from Seasons 5 and 6.
“The story of Jesus is so interesting when you consider how humble he was, and how humble his kingship was,” THE CHOSEN’s creator told Variety. “They expected an earthly king. They expected him to take over and fight the Romans, and he was doing the opposite of that. We definitely wanted to contrast that [in the show’s portrayal of Jesus riding a donkey through Jerusalem].”
Jenkins also spoke about showing Jesus’ more human side, saying, “Jesus shows in the gospels multiple personality traits, and while we believe He didn’t sin, we also know that He felt all the things that we feel.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise that there are other moments in His life where He’s frustrated by the lack of understanding of the people around Him,” he continued. “He’s frustrated maybe even by His own humanity sometimes.”
That commitment to showing characters’ humanity is extended to everyone on the show, including the villains.
“We like to show the humanity of not only Jesus’ followers — which in and of itself is somewhat unique because a lot of Bible projects portray Jesus and His followers as stained-glass windows — but we also want the enemies to be portrayed as human beings, too,” Jenkins shared.
The showrunner gave fans some hints about what the next two seasons will hold, saying that Season 5 will be “in some ways kind of cool and kind of fun.”
“We just couldn’t have three seasons in a row with nothing but pain and loss and misery. Season 5 is kind of the kick-butt moments before Season 6, where we’re not going to shy away from the misery,” Jenkins explained.
He continued, “Season 5 picks up where it left off, and Season 6 is going to be the crucifixion, so we essentially cover five days. We cover the most famous week in history.”
Jenkins and the rest of THE CHOSEN’s cast and crew are already hard at work on Season 5.
“If the content ends up as intense and passionate and exciting as the filming, this is going to be an immensely impactful season,” he told the Catholic News Agency of the upcoming season.
He added that he tries to stay focused on “honoring God and the Spirit and the intention of Jesus in the Gospels. And if I can do that, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Season 5 or Season 1, or whether we’re covering Holy Week or the launch of his ministry, every word matters and getting this right matters.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Season 5’s filming:
The cast and crew of THE CHOSEN are excited to get back into the swing of things as filming for Season 5 begins.
“[Things] have gone remarkably well,” Jonathan Roumie said. “I arrived feeling like I don’t know how this is going to go, and praise God, it went really well. Day two [of filming] was even easier than day one, much lighter. We were able to have some time to kind of joke around a little bit.”
“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.”
In addition to working on THE CHOSEN, Jenkins is also working on THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, a movie adaptation of the popular book of the same name. GILMORE GIRLS star Lauren Graham will appear as the movie’s narrator. THE CHOSEN actors Kirk B.R. Woller, Vanessa Benavente and Elizabeth Tabish have also joined the cast.
“This is a dream come true and the movie I’ve most wanted to make my whole career. And I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone other than Lionsgate and Kingdom, who make great movies while supporting filmmakers,” Jenkins said of the movie.
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