The hit show about the life of Jesus is currently filming Season 5 in Utah at a mockup of first-century Jerusalem.
The cast and crew of The Chosen are now four weeks into production of the latest episodes of the streaming series. Show creator/director Dallas Jenkins enlisted the help of an impressive 600 extras for three of those weeks to help film Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
The Christian filmmaker has featured mass-crowd scenes in the past - the Sermon on the Mount from Season 2 and the Feeding of the 5,000 from Season 3 - but this one has made a particularly deep impression on him. The scene features Jonathan Roumie, who plays the Jesus character in the show, walking into the capital city as throngs of onlookers dressed in period customs wave palm fronds and cheer him on. The 48-year-old Jenkins shared his thoughts on the scene in a video posted on social media this week.
"Palm Sunday will never be the same for any of us. This is one of the most beautiful moments of my life."
Jenkins and his team are now 28 days into their planned 68 days of production of Season 5, which will consist of eight episodes that play out over Holy Week. There is no specific release date yet, but the season is likely to come out early next year.
Speaking of release dates, it is still unclear when Season 4 will hit the show's free streaming platform. It wrapped up its theatrical release in March, but has run into legal challenges that have paused its further roll out. Jenkins stated on April 11th that the situation should be resolved in less than three months - meaning by early July - but he still has not given a firm release date.
Christian Film Blog will bring you an update as soon as we get one. In the meantime, do check out that behind-the-scenes footage of the Palm Sunday scene from Season 5.