Meet the star who plays Jesus on ‘The Chosen’
The star who plays Jesus in the “The Chosen” reveals why this adaption of Jesus’ story is so impactful.
“The Chosen” has been blessed with a box-office miracle.
The first multi-season drama centering on the life of Jesus released Part 1 of “The Chosen: Last Supper” in theaters Friday, earning more than $11 million at the domestic box office. The turnout makes this the top-grossing theatrical installment for the series, which stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus. Part 1, comprised of the first two of the season’s eight episodes, landed behind Jason Statham’s latest action flick “A Working Man” and Week 2 of Disney’s live-action “Snow White.”
“The Chosen: Last Supper” resumes where Season 4 left off, with a crowd celebrating the arrival in Jerusalem of Jesus at the start of the week (known as Palm Sunday) and ending before Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
New trailer for ‘The Chosen’ shows events of Holy Week
Season five of “The Chosen” will depict the events of Holy Week, including the last supper.
Jesus “never gets a moment to rejoice and enjoy too much of what’s happening in the week, even when people are worshipping him, because it’s bittersweet,” says series creator Dallas Jenkins. He’s “teaching his Apostles, he’s pouring into them, he’s giving them a ton of truth bombs, all the while knowing what’s coming, and it’s very devastating. How do we portray that? How do we portray their reaction to what he’s telling them is going to happen when they don’t understand it? It’s a key theme throughout the season.”
Jenkins says he’ll start filming Season 6 in early April. The next chapter covers a 24-hour period during which Jesus was nailed to the cross, and the series is slated to end with Season 7, depicting the resurrection.
When is “The Chosen” Season 5 in theaters, and when will it be available for streaming?
Like Season 4, the new season is divided into three waves for its theatrical release: Part 1 arrived March 28, Part 2 is due April 4 and Part 3 on April 11. The entire season will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in June.
“The Chosen” Season 6 covers Jesus’ crucifixion
Roumie, 50, lost a bit of weight for the upcoming installment. Due to his promotional schedule for Season 5, he’s had to alter his mental preparation, which begins with prayer.
“I wouldn’t be doing any interviews right now because I like to typically have at least a month ahead of time to do nothing else but just drop in and read the scripts and reread the scripts and that kind of thing,” he says. “I have to relate it to the fact that God prepares me in a certain way every season for whatever the season is asking. And this season, it’s maybe a little less prep than I would normally have.”
Roumie says in his prayers, he’s often asking for “wisdom and discernment and knowing how to approach certain scenes.”
“If I read a certain scene, and I’m not quite sure how to play it or what is really being asked of me in the subtext of a scene, I’ll pray about that,” he says. “For my career in general, I try to surrender to every obstacle and challenge that appears in the process of the production, in trying to figure out the doing of it all.”