Fans of the popular faith-based series “The Chosen” are celebrating some big news today – the first two episodes of season three will premiere in theaters on Nov. 18.
Dallas Jenkins, the series creator, director, writer, and executive producer, announced the news on Facebook.
“Most common question I get: ‘When’s Season 3 coming out?'” Jenkins posted recently. “I now have the same answer you can give your friends: November 18, Episodes 1 & 2 back to back, only in theaters.”
The first two episodes will be in theaters for a short time before becoming available on the show’s free streaming platform.
The remaining six episodes will launch weekly on the app in December, Jenkins said.
The crowd-funded series about the life of Jesus and his disciples took the faith-based film industry by storm in 2017. According to the Chosen App, there have been more than 400 million views of the first two seasons, behind-the-scenes looks, and cast Q&A.
As CBN News reported, “The Chosen” also found great box office success when they released “Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers”, last year.
“There’s an appetite here, so we’re going to debut Season 3, the first two episodes, in theaters and try something new and figure out something that we haven’t done before at this level,” Jenkins told Movieguide. “If it works, we keep going. We’re going wherever God parts the seas towards.”
The Christmas special became Fathom Events’ best-selling and most highly attended event at the time, earning $8 million in sales on opening night.
“For me, it’s about the impact and seeing what God is doing,” Jenkins told CBN’s “The PrayerLink”. “God has something to say and I’m just wanting to be a part of it.”
Jenkins told the Deseret News the series will pick up where it left off in season 2 – Jesus feeding the 5,000.
“The Feeding of the 5,000 demands to be seen on the big screen,” he said.
When asked what fans are to expect from this season, Jenkins said the characters begin to deal with the costs and the occasional confusion of following the Messiah.
“On one hand, there’s a little more pain this season, more questions, more challenges to Jesus. On the other hand, that makes the victories that much sweeter,” Jenkins told Deseret News. “We also see worlds collide a little more this season. The Romans with the Jews, the Pharisees in their pursuit of Jesus. We also see a few new characters fans will be excited about.”
Yoshi Barrigas, who portrays the disciple Philip, told CBN’s Faithwire that he applauds how Jenkins handles the character’s development.
“It’s humanizing the parables (of the New Testament) for people, and certainly for the cast, regardless of what our faith system was or is,” he said. “I think we can all agree that these stories are meaningful and that there’s deep, deep old wisdom in them.”
A season three theatrical trailer will be released on Oct. 25 and tickets for the first two episodes will go on sale that same day.
The theme for Season 3 of “The Chosen” is based on the New Testament scripture Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Reporting from CBN.
