The cast and crew of “The Chosen” are excited to get back into the swing of things as filming for Season 5 begins. Jonathan Roumie said, “[Things] have gone remarkably well. 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.”
Even though it’s been over half a year since the cast wrapped filming for Season 4, they felt like they were able to quickly return to their characters and fall into their close relationships. “I blinked my eyes, and I’m starting season five now. Has there been a break? I don’t know. It’s nice weather—that’s a first for ‘The Chosen,’” Elizabeth Tabish said. “I’m proud of how we’ve really settled into our familiarity with each other and our sense of family,” added Abe Bueno-Jallad. “A lot of things are shifting so quickly, and I’m allowing myself to be impacted by them because this just feels like such a different season.”
Despite the comfort they feel, the cast is aware of the weightiness of what they are portraying. After an emotional end to Season 4, Season 5 brings Jesus to the brink of the crucifixion, walking through the events of Holy Week. “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.”
George H. Xanthis, “It felt like with the first scene as well, it felt really kind of personal and intimate. It’s good to get the season started with something like that. It kind of puts you into a really a bit of a zone before you even start.” Noah James added, “It’s also like good to not take anything for granted because the things that we’re dealing with in these scenes, like if you just go, oh yes, I know that story—if you really take it for face value, you’re like, what is going on.”
James continued, “The things [Jesus] says to us as we’re sitting down, like he breaks it down, and it’s super intense to really sort of hear what he’s saying and to imagine what it would be like to be sitting there overlooking the Mount of Olives and hearing this will happen, and then this will happen, and then you’ll die, and then the end of the age will come, and you’re like, whoa.” With Season 5 now in production, many fans are still waiting for Season 4 to hit streaming after the season’s theatrical premiere.
Jenkins told Variety, “The response to Season 4 has been overwhelming so far, which provides a nice lift for us as we head into filming. Of course, we’re about to try to portray the most famous week in the history of humans, so the euphoria from the previous season never lasts long. The entire Season 6 will cover one day, so covering one week in Season 5 feels luxurious.”
While there have been some hiccups with distribution that have caused significant delays, Jenkins recently revealed that Season 4 should be available for streaming soon.