‘The Chosen’ Season 5 to be released globally in March and April next year
Thomas Edwards • December 3, 2024
The first episodes of The Chosen Season 5 are set to hit US theatres on March 27. From April 10, they will be released globally in over 40 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and India.
The fifth season of the popular life-of-Christ series will portray the events of Holy Week, beginning with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and finishing with His Crucifixion. It will be released during Lent to align with its content.
The teaser poster for the series shows Jesus armed with a whip in reference to the Cleansing of the Temple, which traditionally took place on the Monday of Holy Week.
The first season of “The Chosen” was released in April 2019 and was produced by Angel Studios. The series was initially distributed through a crowdfunding model, making it the largest crowdfunded media project in history at the time. Fans funded the project, and it was made available for free via “The Chosen app”, with an option for viewers to “pay it forward” to support future seasons.
The first four seasons cover Jesus’ ministry and teachings, with Season 4, which was released in 2024, foreshadowing His Passion.
The series has received exceptionally positive reviews since its debut and currently holds a 9.2 IMDb rating. Season 1 boasts a 100 per cent critic score and a 99 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. To date, the series’ box office performance stands at 64.6 million dollars.
Jesus is portrayed by Jonathan Roumie, a Catholic who “Word on Fire” notes as bringing an “unparalleled warmth, gentleness, and humor to this daunting role, lighting up the screen—yes, with quiet prayer and deeply felt stares, but also with lighthearted banter, joyful smiles, and even celebratory dancing.” Bishop Barron, who serves as a biblical consultant for the programme, has commended its writers for their faithfulness to both the Old and New Testaments.
Season 5 is poised to carry on this success, with the first clip posted on YouTube receiving over a million views in a week. Luke Dimyan, the actor who portrays Judas Iscariot, told the Catholic News Agency: “We have stepped up our game in every aspect. The filmmaking, the production, the cameras we used. We even felt it on set — the way we scheduled and we worked — everybody was on their A game. So I think you’ll be able to see that on screen and I think you’re really going to like what you see. We put our all into this.”
As of the beginning of 2024, it is estimated that “The Chosen” has accumulated approximately 770 million episode views across various platforms, making it one of the most viewed television programmes on the life of Jesus.
(Photo from Season 4 of “The Chosen”, courtesy of “The Chosen”)