The Christian actor and the rest of the cast and crew of the hit streaming show are weeks away from production of Season 4.
Even as his latest feature film project Jesus Revolution enjoys success at the box office, Jonathan Roumie is gearing up for a return to the set of The Chosen. The native New Yorker plays the Jesus character in the series about the Savior's earthly life and ministry, and he will be back in front of the camera later this month.
The show, created and directed by Christian filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, will begin shooting the fourth of what is ultimately to be seven seasons on its permanent set outside of Dallas, TX. Jenkins and Roumie, who first met when the latter played Jesus in a short film the former shot for his Chicago-area church nine years ago, recently sat down together to tape a discussion about The Chosen, with the director interviewing his star performer.
The two Believers were quick to focus on God's role in this production, which has been viewed more than 400 million times by an estimated 100 million people. Roumie, who calls himself a born-again Catholic, told Jenkins he feels the show's impact on audiences around the globe has given him a sense of "responsibility" to handle things in "a sacred way." It has also had a direct personal impact on the actor.
"It continues to deepen my faith. And I feel that God has tapped me to do things that are extending beyond the show, and to lend my voice in positions that I heretofore previously would never have even thought I would put my hat in the arena for."
One such instance is no doubt Roumie's appearance this past January at the March for Life in Washington, DC , where he spoke boldly in defense of unborn children, as we reported at the time.
The two committed Believers also agreed that doing the show is "the honor of a lifetime," though Jenkins acknowledged that the challenges and pressure they have faced - particularly in Season 3 during the shooting of Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 - periodically leaves him feeling he "likes having done it" and is not sure he "likes doing it all the time." Roumie, for his part, says that he has seen in moments of difficulty that it was all about trusting God.
"Surrender becomes the name of the game. How do I just let go of my expectations of what I thought this was going to be, how this was going to unfold, or what it was going to look like? And how do I just trust God is going to cover me 100% all the way through no matter what? And He did."
As things now stand, production of Season 4 is scheduled to launch on March 27th, and Christian Film Blog will bring you regular updates on developments once it does. In the meantime, you can check out the entire discussion between Roumie and Jenkins via this link to the show's website.