From the beginning, The Chosen has aspired to be the first-ever multi-season TV series about Jesus. That ambition came one step closer to being realized yesterday, with the announcement that season two will begin shooting this fall.
Director Dallas Jenkins made the announcement in the following livestream:
Among other things, Jenkins said the producers have raised enough money to shoot at least the first half of the eight-episode season, and he said he hopes to shoot another five seasons — for a total of seven — within the next three and a half years.
Jenkins and his co-writer Tyler Thompson said the second season will show the disciples wrestling with forgiveness and pain as they deal with the decisions that people have made, and Jesus himself will begin to show signs of anger and frustration.
Jenkins and his cast have revealed specific scenes from season two in earlier videos.
In a video released May 11, Jenkins said the first episode, called ‘Thunder’, will reveal that Jesus gave James and John the nickname “sons of thunder” (as per Mark 3:17) when he rebuked them for wanting to destroy a Samaritan town (as per Luke 9:51-56).
Jenkins introduces the scene at the 30:30 mark in the video below and begins reading a two-minute excerpt from that scene at the 37:00 mark:
In another video, released June 20, Jenkins read a brief excerpt from the second episode, in which Philip tells Nathanael about Jesus (as per John 1:43-46).
Jenkins begins reading that excerpt at the 8:30 mark in the video below:
Finally, in a video released July 19, Jenkins and ten of the show’s actors read a 13-minute excerpt from the third episode, in which, among other things, Jesus’ mother describes what it was like to give birth to the Son of God and realize that he “needed” her.
That video is here:
This last excerpt is interesting, as the Mary of the gospels is never depicted as part of the Jesus movement, except possibly at the very end of his life.
She appears in the adult Jesus’s life only three times: she is at the wedding in Cana, along with the brothers of Jesus (John 2:1-12); she accompanies the brothers when they try to put a stop to his ministry, and he rebuffs them and says his true mother and brothers are those who do God’s will (Mark 3:20-35; cf. Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21); and she is one of the women who witness the crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:25-27).
The wedding at Cana was already depicted in season one (but without the brothers). And the crucifixion of Jesus will, of course, be depicted near the end of the series.
So the only story left from the gospels to tell about Mary, at this point in the series, is the one about how the “family” of Jesus tried to intervene and stop his ministry, and Jesus replied that his true mother, brothers and sisters were those who do God’s will.
It will be interesting to see if the series ever gets into that story — and, if so, what sort of role Mary ends up playing within it, and how she responds to Jesus’ declaration.
Aside from that, note also how two of the characters in this scene from the third episode are Thomas and Ramah, who we last saw at the wedding in Cana.
Thomas, of course, will eventually be one of the Twelve.
There is no one named Ramah in the gospels, but presumably she is one of the female disciples that we hear about in passages like Luke 8:1-3. It will be interesting to see if the series depicts some of the women who are named in those passages, like Joanna.
Beyond that, the only other detail that has been revealed about season two so far is that, by episode seven, the characters will be in “rough shape”. Sounds interesting!
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The Chosen can be streamed in full via VidAngel or the show’s app (Android | Apple).
Season one recaps: zero | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight
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