THE CHOSEN Star Details Mary Magdalene’s Remarkable Story of Transformation

Published: March 5, 2025

THE CHOSEN Star Details Mary Magdalene’s Remarkable Story of Transformation

By Movieguide® Contributor

Elizabeth Tabish is sharing all about the story of her character, Mary Magdalene, on THE CHOSEN.

“My name is Elizabeth Tabish,” the actress began in a video on THE CHOSEN’s YouTube channel on Mar. 2. “I play Mary Magdalene on THE CHOSEN. She is one of Jesus’s followers and disciples; I mean, not officially a disciple but she is… ”

“One of the opening scenes is her waking up from a dream of her father when she was a child, telling her this beautiful Psalm. Wakes up from that dream with blood on her hands as this man is running through town screaming that she has demons in her,” she explained. “That’s the beginning of Episode 1, Season 1.”

Mary Magdalene is literally fighting her demons before she meets Jesus.

“She’s self-medicating, and she drinks herself senseless,” Tabish explained. “Jesus meets her at this bar and follows her outside and repeats the prayer that her father taught her and calls her by her name, which is the first time we have audiences get to hear Mary of Magdelene, and He heals her of her demons. She is redeemed after that.”

“For Mary, it sets her off on…following Jesus ,and in that time span, she, I think, showcases a really realistic depiction of what growth really looks like, which is not super clean. Not easy. Not simple…She’s triggered sometimes,” Tabish said.

At one point, she even relapses and talks to Jesus deeply about her struggles.

“She apologizes and, I think, admits this thing that I connected to so much, which was like, ‘I’m not good enough and how do I repay you? And I threw it all away,’ and of course He jokes that like, if it’s lost in a day, then it’s not much of a redemption,” she said. “Like, there’s a bigger picture here. There’s a bigger story.”

SEE MORE: THE CHOSEN CAST INVITES YOU TO THE 32ND ANNUAL MOVIEGUIDE AWARDS!

“I know that feeling,” Tabish shared late last year. “Being somewhere so tragic and despairing, and to be completely changed and transformed into a place of real hope and love.”

A turning point for Tabish’s character is when she finally becomes vulnerable with Tamar.

“There are tensions building between Mary and Tamar for like a season or two. Mary has struggled so much in her pain that she’s almost been unable to recognize pain in Tamar. These tensions just build and build until like they almost can’t even talk.”

“Once Mary shares that vulnerability, it allows Tamar to share her own and that is when Mary does say to her, ‘I’m sorry. Forgive me. I judged your strengths against my weaknesses.’ Tamar even says… ‘Jesus forgave you. You need to forgive yourself.’”

That interaction is a “pivotal moment” in the show, as Mary significantly changes after that.

“We see her over time without much fanfare,” Tabish said, “just like slowly dropping that shame and those fears and her past, and so the more she does, the more she starts focusing on the people around her and those who need her and those who need her advice or her insight to what’s going on, because she’s gone through so much.”

“She has a special insight to pain, to trauma, to grief and to managing those things, and also to darkness and knowing that life is bittersweet and those bitter moments…they’re going to be there but aren’t we lucky now that we also have the light?” she finished.

The thing Tabish loves most about playing the character is Magdalene’s deep devotion to Christ.

“The thing that I keep returning to every time I get to play [Mary Magdalene], is just this deep, deep love for Jesus,” she told Catholic Weekly. “Being there for him [supporting his ministry], and being there for him at the end as he is crucified and then resurrected, is so special, so incredible, and overwhelming that I can hardly process it.”

“In my own faith and my own connection to her, it’s been very touching and sort of a sacred experience to be able to portray someone who was so close to Jesus and loved him so much.”

THE CHOSEN has won several Movieguide® Teddy Bear Awards® for its inspiring and faith-filled content.

THE CHOSEN Season 5 Episodes 1 and 2 will premiere in theaters on Mar. 28.