The hit streaming show about the life of Jesus aims to start shooting this April at its new production facility in Texas and should release in the fall.
Coming off the huge success of its Christmas special, The Chosen is now turning its attention to its next season. Show creator and director Dallas Jenkins announced last night in a livestream that he plans to launch production on either April 18th or 25th, depending on cast availability and coronavirus-related considerations.
He did not give a specific date for the debut of the third season, but he did say that he hopes to begin releasing it in the fall, aiming to have all eight episodes out before Christmas. He even broached the possibility of doing so in movie theaters and having it be a global event, as opposed to first releasing it online as with seasons one and two, though that sounded like it was still very much up in the air: more an idea than a plan.
Scripts for this coming season are nearly complete, according to Jenkins, and he wants to have season four's scripts finished by this fall. That would allow him and his team to get an earlier start on production, which will now take place just south of Dallas in facilities the show is building at a Salvation Army campground.
Once complete, it will feature a mock-up set of first-century Capernaum, several support buildings - a workshop, a cafeteria, a prop warehouse, and a hair/makeup/wardrobe facility - a small lake that will serve as the Sea of Galilee, and a sizeable soundstage which will allow for filming in completely controlled conditions.
That last one is something that The Chosen lacked for seasons one and two, and Jenkins says it will help them save "massive" amounts of time and money going forward by eliminating the need to cancel shooting days during inclement weather or forcing them to find alternate facilities. He did, however, mention the possibility of again using the Mormon-Church-owned Holyland set in Utah that was prominently featured in season two and offers top-notch Jerusalem backdrops from the time of Christ.
Jenkins also reiterated the show's stated goal of reaching one billion people, adding that his team will focus more attention this year on those who have not yet seen it. Calling 2022 "the year of the unreached," he said their efforts will involve translating and dubbing the program into more languages and using social media marketing to target new viewers, all of which is designed to present people "with the authentic Jesus," as he put it.
Christian Film Blog will follow developments with The Chosen and bring you updates as they become available. In the meantime, if you'd like to get all the details from yesterday's livestream with Jenkins, you can watch it below via YouTube. It runs a bit less than two hours.