More than 280 million viewers in 175 countries have seen “The Chosen.” But the fifth season of the biblical drama — which begins its phased theatrical release this weekend — will have the greatest global reach the series has seen yet.
“The Chosen” creator Dallas Jenkins doesn’t make time to dwell on the show’s explosive success. He prefers to keep his head immersed in the series’ ultimate goal: to share the story of Jesus with as many people as possible.
“While I’m writing and directing, I’m not thinking about the growth of the show. I have enough to worry about just to try to make a decent show (and) obviously to reach people ... with the message of Jesus,” Jenkins told the Deseret News ahead of the Season 5 premiere.
The series is “all about impact,” Jenkins added. “We’re all about reaching eyeballs and then what God does after you see the show is not up to me. But the more people I can get it in front of, the better.”
The goal is to deliver the series to 1 billion viewers worldwide. And global demand for “The Chosen” is growing, Paras Patel, who plays Matthew on the series, told the Deseret News.
“What’s been unexpected ... is that all these different countries around the world have brought the demand that they were into the show and wanted it,” Patel said.
The fifth season’s world premiere was in Dallas, followed by premieres in Madrid, Mexico City, Sydney and Rome. It will be theatrically released in over 40 global territories including Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Poland, Nigeria, Ghana, the Philippines and India.
Jonathan Roumie, who stars as Jesus in the series, credits a large portion of the show’s global success to individuals and communities which are “accepting of this Christ consciousness.”
As “The Chosen” broadens its reach, the message of Jesus the series shares could positively impact culture around the world, Roumie said.
“I think the world needs Jesus,” Roumie said. “We need more of Jesus. And I think it would be a different place if it had more in the culture, because ultimately, He was the purest expression of love and sacrificial love and humility.”
To spread the story of Jesus and make “The Chosen” more accessible to a global audience, the series has already been translated into dozens of languages — and aims to be available in hundreds more.
Translating ‘The Chosen’ into 600 languages
The story of Jesus is “not just for certain languages or certain people,” said Stan Jantz, global ambassador of The Come and See Foundation, an organization which helps fund and translate “The Chosen.”
Translating “The Chosen” into hundreds of languages is a “key” aim of the series, Jantz said. So far, “The Chosen” has been made available in 75 different languages, through a mix of dubbed translations and subtitles.
Some of the dubbed translations available include Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, German, Greek, Japanese, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese and many more.
“These translations tell that story in such beautiful ways that people can experience in their own language. It’s wonderful,” Jantz said.
If translated into 600 languages, “The Chosen” will be accessible to 95% of the world’s population, explained Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Creative and Global Localization at The Come and See Foundation.
“We’re chipping them off one at a time to try to get to that 600 number so that we can reach the widest audience possible with this great show,” Dempsey said.
He continued, “We’re hoping that it gets the conversations going in different parts of the world where perhaps little is known about the Jesus of the Bible ... where missionaries have not gotten to go in to spread the word ... which hopefully will create conversations that are life transforming.”
Amazon is ‘gasoline on the fire’
In February, Jenkins announced a wide-ranging deal between 5&2 Studios and Amazon MGM Studios, a partnership he emphasized will aid in expanding the series’ reach.
Backing from Amazon MGM Studios “allows us to put gasoline on the fire, spreading the show to the world,” Jenkins told the Deseret News.
The first five seasons of “The Chosen” were financially supported entirely through crowdfunding — donations from the public that go toward creating, producing, translating and distributing the series.
More than $37 million has been fundraised to put “The Chosen” in front of audiences, per the official “Chosen” site. But with the series’ significant growth came a nudge to form an exclusive streaming deal and bring increased “legitimacy to the show,” Jenkins said in a February livestream.
“The bulk of our financing still comes from donations,” Jenkins told the Deseret News, but the deal with Amazon will “beautifully” help introduce the series to new viewers.
Amazon is capable of reaching audiences 5&2 studios previously has not, just as 5&2 can continue to buoy its own unique abilities to attract audiences, Jenkins said.
Jenkins recognizes there are potential viewers who might not be interested in a crowdfunded show because it “feels small or independent or off the beaten path to them.” An attachment to Amazon might make “The Chosen” more appealing to these sorts of audiences.
On the other hand, there are also audiences with a “distrustful” attitude toward “a Hollywood system,” Jenkins said. Maintaining the series’ independent factor will support these viewers.
In addition to attracting new viewers to the “The Chosen,” Amazon will help accelerate the translation process, increase global outreach, distribute the series and support “The Chosen” spinoffs like “The Chosen In The Wild with Bear Grylls” and “The Chosen Adventures.”
“(Amazon) has helped to give us some fuel on the fire,” Jenkins said. “It’s become a really great combination to reach our ultimate goal, which is to reach as many people as possible.”
