Jonathan Roumie is opening up about what’s it like to play Jesus himself on The Chosen — and the interesting ways it affects how fans talk to him in his real life.
“I think that people tend to approach me somewhat gingerly at first. But once they see I’m pretty approachable, they gush about the series and what they love about it,” Roumie, 50, exclusively shared in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “And I’m always humbled to hear their expressions and love for the show. It just makes me feel like, ‘OK, I’m doing something that’s contributing to the world in a positive way and having an impact on culture in a way that I never thought I’d have.’”
Roumie added that he’s “grateful” to be able to play such an important and notable character. “I mean, it’s a life-changing role,” he said. “Not just in the material sense, or the success sense, but just in a personal and spiritual sense. And it’s been humbling. They’re grateful for what we’re doing and we’re grateful that we get to do what we love for a living and portray these characters. It’s been the honor of my life.”
The Chosen, which is created, directed and cowritten by Dallas Jenkins, follows the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth (Roumie). The series — which is primarily crowdfunded — streams on a free app and was picked up by The CW in June 2023. While season 4 has already aired on the app and in select theaters, it will premiere on the network Sunday, September 1. (Filming for season 5 is currently underway in Utah.)
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In February, Jenkins told USA Today that the fourth season of the biblical drama will cover “significant biblical events” like “the death of John the Baptist and the raising of Lazarus from the dead.” Roumie, for his part, said that there will be “a lot of emotional grandeur” for viewers to take in once the show returns.
“There’s a lot of much larger, complicated, relational scenes that take place that just kind of punch you in the stomach,” he explained. “That’s something that has resonated with people, like, on a whole other level. And just sent shock waves throughout our audience for, like, people left the theater after that one episode. They’re stunned in silence. And that was the feedback we kept getting. Like, ‘I just left the theater shocked.’ At the end of the credits, they said the entire theater audience was just quiet and just excited because they didn’t know what they had just seen. So season 4 is more about that.”
Season 5, meanwhile, will focus more on “visual grandeur,” with Roumie warning that things will get “crazy” for Jesus and his journey.
“I loved season 4. I thought season 4 was our best season. Season 5 is now my favorite season,” he confessed. “I can’t wait for people to see because there’s so much crazy stuff that happens. You see the entire emotional spectrum from Jesus, which is something we haven’t seen. I think it’s going to excite people and [they’ll] be like, ‘We’re now on another level.’”
For Roumie, season 5’s events — like the Last Supper — are particularly meaningful because of his own faith as a Christian. “As a believer, and as an actor, it was, for me, a really difficult scene to do,” he explained. “And so complex and complicated and nuanced. There’s so much happening between the lines, between characters, that it was just, for me, I think one of my favorite scenes and one of the hardest scenes for me to do.”
He added, “I think it’s going to resonate with people in a way that other scenes haven’t yet. I’m really excited to see what people think about it.”
While season 5 will undoubtedly be poignant for fans, season 4 backs its own punch when it finds Jesus in a “sad” chapter of his life.
“He’s been saying a lot of things and people just aren’t getting it. He’s been trying to [warn] people for what’s coming next,” Roumie explained. “He’s been trying to warn his disciples, like, ‘Hey, guys, things are gonna get a little rough, just FYI.’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.’”
Roumie said Jesus is “disappointed” his words “aren’t quite landing the way he had hoped they would,” but he called the obstacles “part of the process.”
“It’s, you know, the dad talking to the kids and telling them what not to do. And they’re in the middle of playing video games, like, ‘Yeah, I’ll clean my room. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, no worries.’ And, he is like, ‘But if you don’t, you’re not going to get the thing,’” Roumie said. “So it’s like, there’s all these distractions and they have these thoughts in their heads, and they need the things that they want because they’re impulsive and they’re human. They’re emotional and want their needs met before anything else. And he’s just kind of face-palming, like, half the time.”
While the story of Jesus is one that Christians are often well-acquainted with, Roumie believes that The Chosen has found success because of the “humanity” that it instills in the character in a way that hasn’t been seen before.
“He is holier than them, but he tries to bring them along and gently teach them while being also completely and utterly human. He is fully human,” he told Us. “And that’s the thing that I think people have really latched onto, is that there is this humanity that has been depicted over the course of the last four seasons that we’ve never really seen in a Jesus show.”
Roumie added that the show’s unique storytelling approach may also be what’s attracting those who are not of Christian faith, but simply like the grounded — and at times funny — version of Jesus.
“They’re like, ‘I like this guy. I wanna know more about this guy,’” he said. “And we’re trying to show that he was just as human [anymore], and then some. And then he had this whole other aspect, this divinity, but he was not exempt from pain and suffering and sadness and temptation. He just didn’t act on temptation. But he felt everything that we feel.”
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“That’s what people are just so riveted by,” he continued. “‘Wow. He laughed. He went to parties, he danced, he winked. He told the joke. He laughed at a joke. I’d never thought of that before.’ I think seeing that has really excited people.”
The Chosen season 4 premieres on The CW Sunday, September 1, at 8 p.m. ET.
For more on Roumie and The Chosen, check out the latest issue of Us Weekly on newsstands now.
With reporting by Travis Cronin
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