The Chosen (TV series)

The Chosen is an American Christian historical drama television series, created, directed, and co-written by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins. It is the first multi-season series about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, primarily set in Judaea and Galilee in the first century. The series depicts Jesus's life through the eyes of the people who interacted with him, including the apostles and disciples of Jesus, Jewish religious leaders, Roman government and military officials, and ordinary people. The series stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus alongside Shahar Isaac, Elizabeth Tabish, Paras Patel, Noah James, and George H. Xanthis, among a large cast of others. Five seasons have been released, with seven planned.

The series is free to watch and has used a variety of different business models and distribution methods. The first season was financed through crowdfunding, becoming the most successful crowd-funded TV series in history. Season 1 was released in 2019 on the VidAngel platform with a subscription required, but the producers temporarily made it free to watch in response to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when millions of people were staying home—and revenue actually went up. They eventually decided to make all seasons free to watch, though there would be exclusivity windows. Seasons 3 and 4 premiered in movie theaters before being released to various streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, and others. In 2025, Jenkins announced a deal with Amazon MGM Studios to premiere episodes of Seasons 5, 6, and 7 in theaters, followed by a 90-day exclusivity window on Amazon Prime Video, before being made available for free. As of May 2025, The Chosen grossed over $120 million in its theatrical releases.

The show has been watched by an estimated 280 million people worldwide, a third of whom are not religious. The response has been generally positive among Christians, though there have been various controversies over aspects of the show. It has won two GMA Dove Awards, two K-Love Fan Awards, and one Epiphany Prize from Movieguide.

The series is internationally distributed by Lionsgate, and translation into other languages is funded by the non-profit Come and See Foundation. The show has been adapted into a series of novels by Jenkins's father Jerry B. Jenkins, a series of graphic novels by Corvus Comics, and companion Bible study materials published by David C. Cook. The success of the series led to the creation of 5&2 Studios, which is developing two spin-off series.