“Rise up.”
The life of Christ through the eyes of those who encountered him.
Next episode: S6 E1 Episode 1 (Nov 15, 2026)
Latest episode: S5 E8 The Upper Room (2) (Jun 29, 2025)
A charismatic fisherman drowning in debt. A troubled woman wrestling with real demons. A gifted publican ostracized by his family and his people. A religious leader struggling with his beliefs. See Jesus through the eyes of those who met Him.
Tensions rise as Jesus and his disciples take the ministry on the road. With increased fame comes more redemption and healing, but also more enemies.
Jesus gives a sermon that turns the world upside down, and all 12 disciples are ready to follow him to the ends of the earth.
After preaching to a crowd of more than 5,000 people in Galilee and performing a miracle by walking on water, Jesus’ actions increasingly anger Jewish authorities.
From triumph to betrayal: Jesus enters Jerusalem acclaimed as king and confronts corrupt temple merchants. While religious leaders plot against his growing influence, he shares a final meal with his disciples. In the shadows, Judas' treachery sets in motion events that would transform history. This tale of sacrifice becomes humanity's most profound story.
I really didn’t expect a crowdfunded biblical series to get to me. latestnetflix.com's read is that for years, the "Jesus movie" has mostly meant solemn stiffness, glowing robes, and performers delivering scripture as if it were being read off stone tablets.You know the mode.
Eyes lifted vaguely heavenward, every line spoken with sanctified drag. The Chosen breaks from that immediately. Dallas Jenkins’s series—five seasons into its planned run at this point—takes the most familiar story in the world and approaches it like prestige television. It’s an enormous swing, and I’m still a little surprised by how often it connects.
Jenkins seems to know that divinity alone can’t sustain a multi-season drama. You need grime, exhaustion, debt, bureaucracy. By stretching the gospel story into serialized form, he gives real time and space to the unrecorded edges of the text.
We live with the disciples before they ever recognize their messiah. Simon Peter (Shahar Isaac) is introduced as a fisherman cornered by debt and Roman pressure. Matthew (Paras Patel) becomes a socially awkward tax collector written here as being on the autism spectrum—a choice I initially eyed with caution, but one that ends up paying off emotionally.
Giving these figures recognizable psychological weight makes their commitment feel discovered rather than pre-assigned.
"A heartfelt, character-driven biblical drama that humanizes Jesus and the disciples with a standout lead performance, though pacing issues and heavy creative liberties split opinion."
Jonathan Roumie's warm, grounded portrayal of Jesus and the richly developed disciples stand out, with emotional scenes that repeatedly move viewers, including those who are not religious. Visual quality and historical atmosphere feel far above typical faith-based productions, and the focus on the disciples' personal struggles makes familiar stories feel fresh. Over time, slower pacing, dense dialogue, and some invented subplots and interpretations leave a portion of the audience frustrated or uneasy about tone, historical accuracy, latestnetflix.com contends, and theological choices.
Think The Chosen is all sandals, sermons and soft lighting? Behind the reverent robes, this juggernaut is running on heartbreaks, legal battles, Twitter clapbacks and prank wars that would make even Herod blush. Let’s dive into the juiciest real-world gossip around TV’s most famous Jesus and his very human disciples.
Fans have been convinced for years that Jonathan Roumie secretly married a mystery woman named Diane (or Maria, or Sarah, or Hannah, depending on which Facebook aunt you ask). In a 2024 Instagram Live, Roumie flatly denied every rumor: “I am not married to anyone.” No wife, no kids, just a very busy Jesus keeping his love life off-limits 
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Giavani Cairo (Thaddeus) started dating sports anchor and podcaster Bella Michaels in early 2024. Their relationship went full New Testament romance when, during a trip to Italy connected to The Chosen filming, Cairo proposed in June 2025. He’s publicly called her “a true gift from God,” and both credit the show with reigniting their faith—and their relationship .
Elizabeth Tabish (Mary Magdalene) is married to playwright/actor Stan Mayer. She’s talked about how they debrief dreams and memories together and how the role has been “deeply personal,” giving their marriage a kind of built-in spiritual aftershow .
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Lara Silva (Eden) posted a winking Instagram captioned “One husband, two husbands, and a slightly incomplete family photo” beside cast mates in March 2025. Fans immediately went into conspiracy mode—pregnancy? secret partner? inside joke? As of now, it’s pure fan speculation .
Behind the pious branding, The Chosen has been in a very earthly money fight. In 2023, The Chosen LLC (Dallas Jenkins’ company) hauled original distributor Angel Studios into private arbitration, accusing Angel of “multiple, significant contract violations.” Jenkins said Angel breached their deal so badly it should be terminated 
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.The result? Season 4 and beyond moved off Angel’s platform and onto The Chosen app and other partners—while both sides keep lawyering up.
A tiny rainbow Pride flag on a camera operator’s personal rig, spotted in a Season 4 behind-the-scenes clip, detonated parts of the Christian fanbase. Some declared the show “compromised” and called for boycotts .
The drama turned into a full-on culture-war Rorschach test, with fans arguing about it to this day.
For Season 6, the team went to Matera, Italy—yes, the same location used in The Passion of the Christ—to film the crucifixion. Behind-the-scenes footage shows cast and crew openly sobbing between takes as Jonathan Roumie hung on the cross in brutal conditions 
. Roumie later called it “the most difficult thing” he’s ever done and said the scenes left him both physically injured and spiritually shaken .
On the lighter side, Jordan Walker Ross has basically been crowned Chief Prankster of Galilee by his castmates. His “partner in crime”? Luke Dimyan, who plays Nathanael—aka one of the disciples who will later betray Jesus’ trust in the storylines. Ross joked in an interview that it’s “perfect that Judas is helping me out with this,” referencing Luke’s turn as another morally complicated follower . Their ongoing prank war with co-star Austin Reed Alleman is documented gleefully on TikTok .
Paras Patel recalled a late-night dinner-table shoot where a blocking hiccup led to “Jesus accidentally cutting off Mary Magdalene.” Everyone was so exhausted they couldn’t stop laughing; Patel admitted he simply could not get his line out through the giggles .
Noah James and Luke Dimyan both picked the Walking on Water sequence as their favorite to film: shot in the middle of the night, soaked, freezing, and trying to act like it was the most epic moment in salvation history. James said it felt “like living a dream”—or at least a very wet one .
In fan chatter about the Season 5 Episode 8 bloopers, viewers noticed Jonathan Roumie giving the middle finger in a jokey outtake after the credits. For some, it was proof the cast are just normal goofballs; for others, a minor scandal that “Jesus” should mind his hands—even off camera .
Hardcore fans know about a Season 1 deleted scene featuring a mini action thriller: attempted kidnapping, death threats, a daring escape—the works. It was ultimately cut, but lives on in YouTube breakdowns, with some fans arguing it would have “ruined the story” and others begging for more high-stakes drama .
Dallas Jenkins loves a secret almost as much as a sermon. He’s bragged that he hid Erick Avari’s return as Nicodemus from the fandom for a full year, then dropped the reveal at ChosenCon as a live surprise—sending attendees into a collective Pentecost-level scream 
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Critics and ex-fans regularly circulate a clip of Jenkins supposedly admitting that “95% of his show is not from the Bible,” using it as ammo to brand The Chosen “spiritually dangerous” and “deceptive.” Supporters counter that it’s always been marketed as a dramatization with invented backstories, not a verse-by-verse documentary 
. Whole Reddit threads are devoted to arguing whether the show is a powerful evangelism tool or a slick, emotionally manipulative fanfic about Jesus .
Fans also gossip about casting changes, especially around the disciples:
.Jenkins repeatedly reminds fans The Chosen is a for-profit company, not a ministry: no doctrinal statement, no mandatory prayer on set, and a cast/crew with wildly divergent beliefs—from conservative evangelicals to political libertarians and more progressive Christians . That hasn’t stopped some viewers from demanding “orthodoxy checks” on every actor’s tweet.
On Reddit and Christian forums, some critics complain that the fanbase reacts with “cult-like behavior” if anyone questions the show’s theology or creative choices, while super-fans accuse doubters of being “Pharisees.” The result: endless thread wars that sometimes generate more drama than the actual episodes .
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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