It will be the first of the second season of this streaming series about the life of Christ.
Just days after wrapping production in Texas, the man behind The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins, is already mapping out his release plan for the eight-episode second season. In a live-stream appearance today for investors and fans, the creator and director of the show said that aside from that first episode's premiere, nearly everything is still up in the air.
The program, which has already generated some 89 million views worldwide from season one, is now headed for post production. Jenkins, however, does not have a release schedule for episodes two through eight, telling his audience that he plans to put them out individually as soon as each one is ready. And he adds that he's unlikely to be able to put out one per week, which would mean the final episode probably won't be out before the beginning of June at the earliest.
On the positive side of the ledger, at least for viewers, he and his partners will continue to make the show free to watch, covering the costs via their pay-it-forward program and the sale of merchandise. Their unorthodox approach is an effort to help achieve the extremely ambitious goal of ultimately reaching one billion (b) people with the series.
As we reported earlier, season two proved a challenge because of weather delays and associated cost overruns; coronavirus-related safety measures also added three quarters of a million dollars to the planned $10 million budget. According to Jenkins, they currently don't even have quite enough money on hand to shoot the first episode of season three, which they would like to do starting in the fall.
But he underlined that God has been faithful all along, though often taking the production to what he calls "Red Sea moments," meaning a place where there is nowhere to turn and only God can save the day, in a reference to Moses and the Israelites in their flight from ancient Egypt. Jenkins illustrated that point by mentioning an instance where he and his team nearly lost a crucial production day at a lake because of heavy fog. They waited six hours for it to lift, but to no avail. Jenkins says that right before he called it quits for the day, however, something unbelievable happened.
"They were literally starting to take the boat from the shore and put it on the dock to send it home. Literally, a wind gust came: WHEW! (blowing sound) And in less than five minutes, the lake went from unseeable to completely clear. WHEW! Like the fog equivalent of the Red Sea parting."
Was it a miracle? Jenkins: "It sure felt like it was God saying, 'I've got you.'" And the director, who is a devout Believer, adds "It's that constant reminder that I'm not in control. I have to be surrendered to this process."
With an ambitious plan to raise $100 million to finish the remaining five seasons of The Chosen in approximately three years, Jenkins will definitely need to continue to rely fully on the Lord. If you'd like to pitch in, the aforementioned pay-it-forward mechanism and merchandise purchases are the way to do it.
As for the first episode of season two, it will release Easter Sunday (April 4th) at 8:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM CDT via the program's app and YouTube channel. Investors and those who have contributed at least $300 to pay-it-forward will be able to watch it one day earlier.
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