“The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie said Monday coming to the Vatican is a “humbling honor” and a confirmation for him of the TV show’s continued mission of bringing Jesus Christ to the world.
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Roumie, other “The Chosen” castmates, and series creator and director Dallas Jenkins are at the Vatican this week after having just wrapped up three weeks of filming in southern Italy for the Crucifixion scenes of Season 6, out next year.
“The fact we’re here now, sitting at the Vatican… is a testament to, I think, how God wants to continue to further this mission to bring more people to Jesus and to bring Jesus to them,” Roumie, who plays Jesus in the wildly successful TV series on the Gospels, said during a press conference at the Vatican on June 23.
Season 5, Episode 4, “The Same Coin,” will be streamed at the Vatican’s Filmoteca theater on the afternoon of June 23 in anticipation of the entire season being available for streaming in Italy in July.
Roumie will also present Pope Leo XIV with a gift from “The Chosen” during the Wednesday general audience on June 25, a meeting he said would be “extraordinary for so many reasons.”
“When [Pope Leo XIV] was elected, I wept, because I never thought I’d see an American pope in my lifetime,” the Catholic actor said. To get “to communicate to him in our native language this week is just something I never thought I would see in my life.”
Series director Jenkins, an evangelical Protestant, said it was “a tremendous honor” to be at the Vatican. He added that being surrounded by the beautiful art of Rome and the Vatican reminded him how much he wants the show to make the events and people depicted in religious artwork feel real to viewers.
“Jesus is more than a painting, and the church is more than just a building,” he said. “Jesus and the apostles were not just stained-glass windows, but Jesus became man … and these men and women actually lived and actually had a relationship with Jesus … something we can have today.”
Roumie and Jenkins were joined at the Vatican press conference by Elizabeth Tabish (Mary Magdalene), George Xanthis (John the Apostle), and Vanessa Benavente (Mother Mary).
They all talked about the emotional impact of getting to portray their characters, in their humanity and their growth, across five seasons so far.
Roumie said that “in the process of making this show, we didn’t know we would ever go beyond four episodes of the first season.”
“And then to fast forward seven years, and thousands of stories later about how this show has been used by God to change people’s lives — and in some unique, distinct cases, to save people’s lives — humbling doesn’t even come close to describing the understanding of that, the feeling of that: It’s profound,” he added.
The cast and crew on June 22 finished filming Jesus’ crucifixion in Matera in the Italian region of Basilicata, the same location used for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”
Jenkins called the three weeks “the most challenging and difficult we had in filming,” requiring him to surrender everything to Christ.
Roumie noted that since starting the show, many people have asked him if he was looking forward to getting to the Crucifixion scenes, but he would answer, “I can’t think about that, I can’t think about the cross, because we’re not there yet.”
He preferred to stay in the present, concentrating on Jesus’ active, public ministry, and the intimacy between Jesus and his followers. “And if there was anyone in the whole history of the world who was present at all times, it was Jesus Christ,” the actor said.
Talking about Season 5, which is focused on the events of Holy Week, is a welcome break from the intensity of the past three weeks of filming, Jenkins told journalists.
The show’s latest season features some of the most well-known scenes in Scripture, he said, including Judas’ betrayal, when Jesus flips tables in the Temple, the triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, and, most importantly, the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist.
The director said he hopes the season will provide an “opportunity for many new viewers to come to the show because they recognize these famous moments.”
