‘The Chosen’ Creator On Joining CW Lineup, His Interim Agreement & How “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Feel Like An Official Member Of Hollywood”
On a brief break from filming season 4 of The Chosen, creator Dallas Jenkins agreed to a Zoom call with Deadline to discuss his new berth on The CW and the success of his series about the life of Jesus. He’s dressed the part: Jenkins is wearing a T-shirt that reads My Rabbi Walks on Water, one of several items that he’s now peddling through the show’s merch website.
Like he really needs the money from selling Chosen-inspired coffee cups and hoodies. What began as a crowdsourcing project on the Angel Studios app has turned into a global hit with over 110 million viewers in 175 countries, with plans to make The Chosen available in 600 languages. The series has generated 6.5 million followers across social media, made $35 million at box office in special-event theatrical releases and has spawned best-selling books, DVDs, graphic novels, and yes — walking on water tees.
In June, The CW followed Peacock, Netflix, Roku and BYUtv by picking up the first three seasons of the drama that stars Jonathan Roumie as the King of Kings. (After any theatrical release, the Angel Studios app and The Chosen app still have global exclusive rights in the first window for all existing and future seasons). The second season finale airs Oct. 27 on The CW, and the season 3 finale will on Christmas Eve.
DEADLINE Do you have a favorite statistic that you like to quote when speaking about the success of The Chosen?
DALLAS JENKINS I really do try to avoid caring about the stats because it can distract me from the work that I have to do. I [appreciate the] fact that the show is on The CW, that the show was in the top 10 on Amazon Prime, that the show is easy to watch on these platforms where you normally wouldn’t see a show like ours, and that there are so many people who are watching who aren’t traditional believers. Those are my favorite things. And when I saw The Chosen right next to Cocaine Bear on Amazon’s list, I think that was one of my most proud moments.
DEADLINE The Chosen can now be found on multiple platforms, including The CW. You’ve got that relatively new worldwide distribution deal with Lionsgate. Do you feel like an official member of Hollywood now?
JENKINS I don’t think I’ll ever feel like an official member of Hollywood, but it is great to partner with Hollywood companies on what they do best. There are some things we do that they can’t do, and there are some codes that we’ve cracked that haven’t necessarily been cracked before. We want to get into areas that we wouldn’t normally be able to go, service areas that Hollywood studios might not normally reach or audiences that they might not normally reach. When nitro meets glycerin, the best of both worlds combined! I love having my foot in both waters.
DEADLINE You got an interim agreement to film the fourth season. How were you able to achieve that?
JENKINS Like anyone else, you agree to the SAG terms that the AMPTP currently isn’t agreeing to. We had to do it. We had two weeks left of filming. We wanted to make sure that we could finish and we were happy to tell the world that we agreed to their terms. And when we were the only game in town, quite literally for a period of time, it increased our exposure and awareness around the world. As an independent it made it easier for us to come to this agreement with SAG.
DEADLINE What are your thoughts about the ongoing strike?
JENKINS I understand the struggle from both sides. I’m a creator, so obviously I understand the desire to be rewarded for your work when it’s more successful. I also understand the perspective of someone whose job it is to find financing for future seasons. It is an extraordinarily difficult time. Financing and income are not the same as they were five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. It is not as easy as it seems and we can see from our show — which is one of the most viewed shows in the world — it is still difficult to monetize. So there are parts of this dispute that I understand from both sides. I think it’s important that we try hard to put ourselves in the other’s shoes and to see if there’s a way that we can find a middle ground that benefits everybody.
DEADLINE Did I read correctly on a Wikipedia page that you got the epiphany for this series while mowing your lawn? Was that correct?
JENKINS It’s a little bit of a mix. When I was mowing the lawn, I got the idea to tell stories from my own experience and from my own faith, believing that would actually be more appealing to a wider audience, that I was trying too hard to kind of thread the needle. That’s what happened when I was mowing the lawn. The concept for the show came when I was making a short film for my church on my friend’s farm in Illinois. I was coming off of my biggest career failure, not knowing if I would ever make another project again. I was binge watching The Wire on HBO and I came up with the idea for the Jesus show. The Wire is a terrific show. It shows the sociopolitical dynamics, the people on the street, the people in the mayor’s office, the people in the police department. It’s similar to what happened in first century Galilee. There’s political, sociopolitical, religious divisions, and then there are people on the ground. The Chosen explores all of that, the relationships and the divisions. The Wire had a big influence.
DEADLINE Do you have a bible, so to speak, for the whole entire run of the show?
JENKINS Yes, we have a Bible, literally, for the show, but we also have a lowercase bible. We have plotted out the seven seasons. If you are watching on The CW, as people are wrapping up season two heading into season three. They should know that when we started, we knew where we were going. We knew how this would end. We thinking the seventh season now. I just finished the writing season five because we know where the story goes and allows us the freedom to play within those boundaries. So yeah, we do have this plotted out, just not all of the scripts are written just yet.
DEADLINE When will the crucifixion occur?
JENKINS Season six and the resurrection will occur in season seven. Spoiler alert!
DEADLINE Do you have a writer’s room? Or are you it?
JENKINS There are two other writers. Three of us write every episode. We have a virtual and literal writer’s room that has served us well for these first four seasons and will not change over the next three.
DEADLINE With success comes the requisite criticism and how you have taken liberties with the story. How do you respond to that?
JENKINS We make no secret of the fact and are proud to say we are not the Bible. We are a TV show. Throughout Hollywood’s existence, there have been movies and television shows made about historical figures. There are some people who believe that Jesus and the disciples are the only ones who should never have a movie or TV show made about them. We disagree and so we are not begging people to watch it. If there are people who are uncomfortable with seeing anything that isn’t directly from scripture, we’re cool with that and you don’t have to watch the show. We do believe that what we are portraying, even when it’s not from scripture, is plausible historically and spiritually and culturally accurate. And so as long as we are not violating the character and intentions of Jesus and the gospels, we believe that we have freedom to explore what their lives would’ve been like. That has allowed people who aren’t traditional believers or who don’t read the Bible to appreciate these stories and perhaps want to know more.
DEADLINE Do you have a set list of dos and don’ts? Like, I won’t approach this the way, say, Mel Gibson would?
JENKINS Well, we certainly don’t want to do anything that contradicts the messenger themes of the Bible, but otherwise we don’t really have a lot of rules. We don’t show a white King James version of a speaking Jesus. We don’t want this to feel formal or presented. We’re obsessed with trying to be as authentic as possible, as human as possible. I do think that because of previous Jesus stories, particularly The Passion of the Christ or even some of the ones that aren’t very good or are very boring, the existence of these does give us a certain freedom to break out. When we get to the crucifixion, I don’t have to make it a bloodbath because Mel did it better than I ever could. If I just showed the faces of the disciples watching the crucifixion, that will be emotionally and spiritually devastating. Because Mel already did it, I believe I have more tools at my disposal than Mel did because I’ll have done multiple seasons of this. I’m not trying to compete with anybody else.
DEADLINE You don’t have a lot of competition in this space. There’s not a lot of people like you making this content. Does that mean the bar is low when it comes to appealing to the viewers?
JENKINS I think that we sometimes do benefit from the fact that there is not a lot of content out there that speaks to people of faith. Maybe we get some bonus points for that. That said, we have seen over and over again that audiences that don’t traditionally consider this type of entertainment are moved and loving the show as a historical drama. So you are not required to be a Christian to watch this show. It allows us to stand out even in these arenas that are outside of the faith space. When you’re on Amazon, Peacock, Netflix, and The CW and there’s nothing else like it, people will go, ‘oh, this is different. This is unique.’ I want art to have diversity. So I think that that does help us.
DEADLINE The reaction by some people to your Lionsgate deal was interesting. One person even said that you pulled a Judas. Do you think there’s a fear among your biggest fans that you’re becoming part of the Hollywood machine?
JENKINS I think it’s a legitimate concern that if a Hollywood studio ever has influence over our content, that it would be dangerous and could potentially impact the accuracy or authenticity of the stories that we’re telling. They’ve seen it before. There is a segment of the audience that feels like they’ve been burned in the past. That said, anyone who believes that a distributor helping get this content out to more people is a bad or dangerous thing, is being ignorant and selfish. Anyone who believes that this content is actually good should be cheering for the fact that Lionsgate is our partner. They’re getting this content into areas where it might not normally be. I have no ears for anyone who believes spreading this show out to the world is somehow a bad thing.