While hundreds of television shows are created and distributed through networks, cable channels, and streaming services every year, few have a story quite as unusual as The Chosen. What began with a small Christmas short film and a record-breaking crowdfunding campaign has grown into a global television phenomenon about the life of Jesus Christ. As of 2026, the team behind The Chosen says the series has been watched by more than 300 million people around the world.
The series stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus, Shahar Isaac as Simon Peter, Elizabeth Tabish as Mary Magdalene, Paras Patel as Matthew, and an increasingly large ensemble cast. Rather than simply retelling individual Gospel stories, The Chosen follows the life and ministry of Jesus through the eyes of the people closest to Him.
And what makes the story behind The Chosen almost as interesting as the series itself is just how unlikely its success has been.
Origins of The Chosen and Why It Was Created
The Chosen was created, co-written, and directed by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, the son of Jerry B. Jenkins, co-author of the bestselling Left Behind series. Jenkins wanted to distinguish The Chosen from the many movies and television productions that had already attempted to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth.
Instead of making another two-hour movie that raced through the major events of Jesus' life, Jenkins envisioned something closer to modern prestige television: a multi-season drama that viewers could binge-watch, with enough time to develop the disciples and other people who encountered Jesus.
The result was something that had never really been attempted on this scale before: a seven-season television series centered on the life and ministry of Jesus. The show's official description says its goal is to portray Jesus through the eyes of those who knew Him and give viewers a more intimate look at His life and teachings.
That format gives the writers considerably more room to explore people who may receive only a few verses in the Gospels.
- Peter isn't merely "Peter the disciple." We meet Simon Peter the fisherman, husband, friend, and struggling first-century Jew.
- Matthew isn't simply "Matthew the tax collector." He becomes a fully developed character whose decisions affect his family, community, and eventual relationship with Jesus.
- Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, Andrew, John, Thomas, and many others receive similar treatment.
Of course, this also means that not everything you see in The Chosen comes directly from the Bible. The creators openly acknowledge that some timelines and locations have been condensed and that fictional dialogue, backstories, and even some characters have been added. They encourage viewers to read the Gospels for themselves rather than treating the series as a replacement for Scripture.
A Different Kind of Story About Jesus
One of the things Dallas Jenkins wanted to accomplish was to make a show about Jesus that people would actually want to binge-watch. That may sound strange when you're talking about the Bible, but it was an important creative distinction.
Instead of treating every episode like a self-contained Sunday school lesson, The Chosen develops story arcs over hours and eventually years. The characters disagree, laugh, fail, misunderstand one another, and slowly develop.
Jesus Himself is portrayed in a more personal and intimate manner than we usually see on screen. Jonathan Roumie's Jesus laughs with His friends, attends weddings, works, jokes, gets tired, and interacts with ordinary people while still maintaining the authority and gravity of the Gospel accounts.
That human element has become one of the most consistently praised aspects of the show. But The Chosen didn't actually begin as a television series.
The Shepherd: The Short Film That Started The Chosen
The origins of The Chosen can be traced back to a short film Dallas Jenkins made in 2017 called The Shepherd.
Jenkins created the film about the birth of Christ from the perspective of the shepherds for a Christmas Eve service at Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois. It was filmed largely on farms near Marengo, Illinois.
At the time, Jenkins was coming off what he has described as one of the greatest professional disappointments of his career. His feature film The Resurrection of Gavin Stone had failed to meet expectations. Instead of immediately trying to produce another major movie, Jenkins made The Shepherd for his church.
That small project eventually caught the attention of VidAngel, the streaming company that would later become closely associated with The Chosen. VidAngel saw potential in expanding the idea into a series and suggested releasing the short online to see whether audiences were interested.
They were.
By April 2019, The Shepherd concept video had been watched more than 20 million times online, providing an early indication that there might be a significant audience for a different kind of television series about Jesus.
Jenkins eventually partnered with video marketing strategist Derral Eves, who became an executive producer and played a major role in developing the audience and unconventional distribution strategy for the series. And that's when the story got even more unusual.
How The Chosen Became a Record-Breaking Crowdfunded TV Series
Traditional television works something like this: a studio or network decides to finance a show, produces it, and then tries to attract an audience.
The Chosen largely reversed that process.
Jenkins and his partners first built an audience and then asked that audience to help finance the show. For Season 1, they used equity crowdfunding, which meant supporters weren't merely donating money. They were actually investing in the company.
SEC filings show that The Chosen's 2018–2019 fundraising campaign raised just under $11 million, with net proceeds of roughly $10 million after expenses. More than 16,000 investors participated, breaking the previous crowdfunding record for a television or film project.
That distinction is important.
The initial campaign wasn't merely a Kickstarter-style fundraiser where somebody gave $100 in exchange for a T-shirt. The company issued investment units under securities offerings filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
It was an extraordinary amount of money for an independent television project about Jesus.
And it worked.
Season 1 was released in 2019, with the first four episodes arriving in April and the remaining episodes later that year.
From Crowdfunding to a Global Funding Model
The financing behind The Chosen has evolved considerably since those early days.
Subsequent seasons continued to be supported by viewers, but the project gradually moved away from its original equity-investment model toward crowdfunding, "pay it forward" support, and eventually charitable donations.
Today, much of that work is handled through the Come and See Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to help fund production, translation, and global distribution while keeping The Chosen available to watch for free.
That model has continued to attract an astonishing number of supporters.
For example, Come and See reported that more than 104,000 people in 151 countries contributed toward funding Season 5.
As of August 2026, the six episodic installments planned for Season 7 have also been funded, while fundraising continues for the feature-length resurrection film that will begin the final season. Come and See says each Season 7 episode is estimated to cost about $8 million to produce, while the resurrection film is projected to cost approximately $30 million.
That's quite a leap from a short film made for a church Christmas service.
More Than 300 Million Viewers and Counting
The scale of The Chosen today is dramatically different from what it was during those first crowdfunding campaigns. In June 2024, the production reported more than 200 million viewers and 770 million episode views worldwide.
By April 2026, The Chosen was reporting an audience of more than 300 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched faith-based series in the world.
Its distribution has expanded far beyond its original app. Five seasons have now been released, and Seasons 1–5 are available on Prime Video as well as through The Chosen's own platforms. The official app continues to make episodes available for free.
The series has also become increasingly theatrical. Entire seasons and special episodes have appeared in movie theaters before moving to streaming.
And the project is becoming increasingly global. In February 2026, The Chosen and Come and See received a Guinness World Record for the most translated season of a streaming series, with Season 1 available in 125 languages.
The long-term goal is even more ambitious: Come and See hopes to make the complete series accessible in as many as 600 languages. The stated goal remains reaching one billion people with the story of Jesus.
How Many Seasons of The Chosen Will There Be?
Dallas Jenkins originally planned The Chosen as a seven-season series, and that plan remains intact.
As of August 2026, five seasons have been released.
- Season 6 focuses on Jesus' final day and the crucifixion. Six episodes are scheduled to begin streaming on Prime Video on November 15, 2026, followed by a stand-alone theatrical finale in spring 2027.
- Season 7 will center on the resurrection and complete the original seven-season story.
So what began with the hope of somehow financing a first season is now approaching the completion of the entire story Jenkins originally envisioned.
What People Are Saying About The Chosen
The response to The Chosen has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly among viewers.
As of August 2026, Rotten Tomatoes shows a 97% average audience score from more than 10,000 ratings for the series. Season 1 received a 100% Tomatometer score from eight published critic reviews and a 99% audience score.
Film critic Alan Ng of Film Threat gave the first season an 8.5 out of 10, writing that the "acting is good to exceptional" and praising the series for offering a fresher approach than many previous faith-based productions.
Writing for America Magazine, Mary Grace Mangano similarly praised the show's acting, production, and attention to historical detail, while highlighting its ability to portray biblical characters—and particularly Jesus—as recognizably human.
That doesn't mean the series is without criticism.
The biggest concern among some Christian viewers is precisely what makes the multi-season format possible: creative license.
The Bible doesn't tell us everything Matthew said at dinner, what Peter argued about with Andrew, or the details of Mary Magdalene's daily life. In order to create dozens of hours of television, the writers necessarily imagine conversations, motivations, relationships, and events that aren't explicitly recorded in Scripture.
That makes it important to maintain the distinction between a drama inspired by the Gospels and the Gospels themselves.
Thankfully, the creators of The Chosen make that distinction as well. Their own explanation states that added dialogue, characters, timelines, and backstories are intended to support the biblical story—not replace it—and they specifically encourage audiences to read Scripture.
For me, that's an important distinction.
The Chosen T-Shirts and Merchandise
The success of The Chosen has also produced a huge collection of official merchandise.
The official Chosen Gift Store now sells shirts, books, DVDs, Blu-rays, and other items connected with the series. Longtime fans will recognize phrases such as "Come and See" and "Get Used to Different," which have become closely associated with the show and its community.
It's worth clarifying one thing from the early days of the project, however: buying merchandise isn't the same thing as directly funding a new episode.
The show's own website says merchandise purchases help support The Chosen and spread awareness, but identifies donations through the Come and See Foundation as the primary way to financially support production, translation, and global distribution.
Where Can You Watch The Chosen?
One of the most unusual things about The Chosen continues to be how accessible the series is. You can watch episodes for free through The Chosen app and website, and Seasons 1–5 are also currently available through Prime Video.
The app is available across major mobile and television platforms, including iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. New seasons may have theatrical or Prime Video exclusivity windows before becoming freely available, so the exact release path can change from season to season.
But the broader commitment remains the same: the Come and See Foundation says its goal is to keep all seven seasons available free of charge while translating and distributing the show globally.
The True Story Behind The Chosen
The truth behind The Chosen is Jesus.
Not Jesus the television character played by Jonathan Roumie, but the person whose life and ministry inspired this entire project.
When I originally wrote about The Chosen years ago, I was amazed that Dallas Jenkins and his team had managed to raise more than $20 million to produce the first couple seasons. Looking at it now, that almost seems quaint.
The project has gone from a church Christmas film to a record-breaking crowdfunded series, from an independent streaming app to theaters and Amazon Prime Video, and from a relatively small group of supporters to an audience that the show's producers now estimate at more than 300 million people worldwide.
It has also brought together Christians from remarkably different traditions. Evangelicals, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Messianic Jews, and many people with little or no religious background have watched the same story unfold on screen. They may not agree on every theological question—or even every creative decision made by the writers—but millions of them have spent hours thinking and talking about Jesus.
That, to me, is the most interesting part of the story.
The Chosen isn't Scripture, and it shouldn't be treated as Scripture. But a television series that causes millions of people around the world to open the Gospels, talk about Jesus, and consider His words more seriously is something worth paying attention to.
What began as Dallas Jenkins bringing his own version of the loaves and fishes has become far larger than anybody involved could reasonably have predicted. And with the crucifixion, resurrection, and conclusion of the seven-season story still ahead, the story behind The Chosen isn't finished yet.