THE CHOSEN spent five seasons bringing viewers to Holy Week, and now the series will slow one wrenching day almost to real time.
“So even though we’re covering a 24-hour period, it’s not literally 24,” THE CHOSEN creator and director Dallas Jenkins said in a new behind-the-scenes video. The featurette reveals how Season 6 will follow Jesus’ final hours before the tomb without losing the people, choices and quiet moments surrounding Him.
“Every episode, we have to make sure feels like it covers roughly the right amount of time, starting with Thursday night in the Garden of Gethsemane, ending 24 hours later, which is roughly 6 p.m., when Jesus is put in the tomb on Friday night,” Jenkins said.
He added that each installment should carry the feel of a distinct stretch of the day — from morning to midday to afternoon — rather than leaping over long blocks of time.
That tight clock gives the season a natural pulse, but Jenkins said the writers did not want every scene to feel like a countdown. The story will move among Jesus, His disciples and the authorities closing in, letting viewers see how fear, loyalty, grief and betrayal collide as the cross draws nearer.
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“This feels like an eight-hour Good Friday observation where we’re kind of living in the moment of these characters and experiencing each one of their choices along the way, while we’re getting closer and closer to that inevitable moment,” THE CHOSEN executive producer and co-writer Tyler Thompson said. He explained that the team wanted the season to breathe instead of racing from one familiar event to the next.
The approach also leaves room for something viewers might not expect: warmth.
“We got some pretty awesome stuff to watch in between the hard stuff, but that’s life,” THE CHOSEN executive producer and co-writer Ryan Swanson said. His point lands: Good Friday’s sorrow unfolded amid real relationships and a world that did not stop moving.
Season 5 already laid the groundwork for that weight. Movieguide® praised THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER — PART ONE as an excellent opening that stayed extremely biblical, stressed Christ’s divinity and showed the disciples struggling to understand what Jesus kept telling them.
Movieguide® found PART TWO compelling and well-made, praising Jonathan Roumie’s emotional performance as Jesus and the story’s strong Christian worldview. The review noted some creative liberties but said the installment remained close to Scripture and contained only mild violence.
The PART THREE review advised caution for younger children because of scary images, violence and deeply sad material. It also found the structure somewhat drawn out, yet praised the production for sticking mostly to the biblical accounts, delivering strong performances and presenting Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
THE CHOSEN has earned plenty of recognition along the way. Movieguide® has recognized the series with a 2023 Epiphany Prize® for Season 3’s opening episodes and a 2026 Epiphany Prize® for THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER — PART TWO.
Season 6 arrives this fall, and the video’s closing images make the destination plain: the cross, the tomb and the long hours in between. By staying inside one day, THE CHOSEN is betting that a story everyone knows can still feel immediate when viewers have time to sit with what each person chose — and what Jesus endured for them.
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