If the significance of a week can be described as “shock and awe,” imagine the impact of Holy Week. That is the time in Jesus and the disciples’ lives into which “The Chosen” will take its growing audience for season 5. Or, as the show’s official synopsis teases, “The most pivotal week in human history.” … The post ‘The Chosen’ Teams with Amazon for Season 5, Last Supper appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
If the significance of a week can be described as “shock and awe,” imagine the impact of Holy Week.
That is the time in Jesus and the disciples’ lives into which “The Chosen” will take its growing audience for season 5.
Or, as the show’s official synopsis teases, “The most pivotal week in human history.”
The New Testament-based show is gearing up for the release of what Executive Director Dallas Jenkins described as its “highest production value” season to date, which culminates in the Last Supper.
“Tables are turned. Friends are betrayed. And powerful leaders plot the death of Jesus,” continues the season synopsis.
Some influential tables may have turned Sunday when Vernon Sanders, head of television at Amazon MGM Studios and the company’s development executive, Traci Blackwell, along with Dallas and Amanda Jenkins announced their wide-ranging partnership via livestream.
They also shared an earnest, heart-to-heart conversation with viewers.
Jenkins and Blackwell acknowledged that fans may fear the deal could betray the Bible-based show, whose lens also explores plausible yet ascriptural human experiences of knowing Jesus.
The show’s commitments include 100 percent creative control in the hands of the Jenkins and the show’s original writers.
In addition, while Amazon MGM will have exclusive theatrical distribution and streaming rights, “The Chosen” app will continue to bring all seasons to viewers’ devices for free, albeit possibly delayed until after the Amazon Prime Video streams.
Amazon MGM Studios will theatrically premiere the “The Chosen” Season Five during Holy Week on March 28. Then, in June, the season will begin streaming on Prime in the US.
Later in the year, streaming will be available in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and also in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, following extensive language translation efforts.
The fact that the theme of “trust” played a major role in the live-streamed announcement isn’t surprising. When asked by Jenkins what words he would say to the show’s loyal audience, Sanders began with a simple, “Trust us,” before continuing to share reasons why.
Our cynical age has made such a phrase dubious, sometimes nearly unpalatable. It hit differently in the dialogue among Jenkins, Sanders and Blackwell.
Perhaps the people of the ancient world might have had relatable struggles to trust, facing similar forces in their psyche from dealing with a frequently untrustworthy world.
Jenkins has repeatedly advised viewers to take questions, doubts and problems with the show to the Bible itself for answers. The series is “imperfect television by imperfect people,” he has said, and the teams at Amazon MGM must be considered likewise imperfect.
Then what is it that can build trust between people for the accomplishment of the aims of God’s kingdom?
“For several years, the team at Amazon MGM Studios has proved over and over they’re passionate about this show and our fans. They’re going to make us better and get the show to more people, and I can’t wait to build this relationship,” Jenkins said.
Although betrayals, a theme of Season Five, are reminders that this world has salt foundations, an extraordinary narrative of the Bible is the ability to grow in faith and in trustworthy relationships from the heart. This ability of humanity stems from the Son of Man’s coming into this world to know us, serve us and redeem us by the love of the Rock of Ages, even though the mountains may crumble to the sea.
The Bible invites us to swap roles from fear of the crumbling to faith in moving mountains in Jesus’s name.
“The Chosen” stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus, Elizabeth Tabish as Mary Magdalene, Shahar Isaac as Simon Peter and Paras Patel as Matthew. All 12 of the disciples’ characters have been developed over the seasons, giving the build-up to the Last Supper a dramatic depth.
The season is set almost entirely in Jerusalem, although the show famously tends to include scenes that tie in parts of the Bible from across time and space.
In the deal, Amazon MGM, also gets distribution rights for Season Six and Season Seven, which will portray, respectively, the crucifixion and the resurrection.
Jenkins’ 5&2 Studios has plans for shows beyond the flagship program, which are included in the Amazon MGM partnership. “The Chosen Adventures” will be an animated family series with Biblical character voice-acting by stars from “The Chosen.”
5&2 will also launch “The Chosen in The Wild With Bear Grylls,” a wilderness, reality and interview-based unscripted show with stars and crew from “The Chosen” facing new environments and challenges.
This world is going through consequential changes in the present time. A journey that follows and pursues a deeper understanding of the godly being revealed has a rightful place at the forefront of entertainment.
As viewership and marketing of “The Chosen” goes to the next level, the audience and believers across the nation and the Earth pray for a good and faithful telling of the Gospel.
The post ‘The Chosen’ Teams with Amazon for Season 5, Last Supper appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
