New The Chosen Shows Announced at ChosenCon
Updated: Nov 13, 2024
We’ve known for over a year that there are plans to expand The Chosen into a broader franchise that includes spinoff shows and movies. At ChosenCon 2024 the creators of The Chosen announced several projects: a Moses and Joseph series, The Way of The Chosen, and an animated kids show. In an earlier version of this post, I made several predictions about the upcoming slate of shows. Below I've updated the post with the actual shows that have been announced.
Update: Since ChosenCon 2024, two more Old Testament shows have been announced. See below for more details!
Prediction: The Acts of The Chosen Spinoffs
The Chosen was designed from the beginning to consist of seven seasons, all focused on the life and ministry of Jesus. But the story of Jesus’ followers doesn’t obviously doesn’t end with Jesus’ ascension into heaven. There are many important biblical events that are described in the Book of Acts and the Apostolic Epistles. There are also many extra-biblical legends and traditions about the deeds of various apostles.
Before The Chosen formally separated from Angel Studios, I wasn’t sure if the creators would want to compete with Angel’s upcoming alternate-history Book of Acts show, Testament. But now that The Chosen is completely disentangled from Angel - and especially given the unique slant of Testament - I think it’s very likely that The Chosen will develop shows that take place during the time of Acts.
That’s right - shows. In the Book of Acts, persecution breaks out against the Jesus followers after the stoning of Stephen and as a result, there’s a diaspora of the early Christians throughout the ancient world. We’ve already seen hints of this in the flash-forward scenes in The Chosen: Little James goes to Egypt, Mary Magdalene lives in her mountain cave, etc. While a single show could jump back and forth between different characters, the storylines would rarely intersect in a natural way. It would make more sense for The Chosen to spinoff a distinct limited-series focused on fan-favorite characters like Mary Magdalene, Matthew, Gaius, Little James or Shmuel.
We actually have very little biblical information about what most of the disciples did after they were driven out of Jerusalem. If The Chosen does create spinoffs surrounding popular characters, those series will quickly run out of biblical material and will have to draw on history, traditions, legends - and a lot of historical fiction. Of course, a core series will probably focus on Peter and Paul and it would have plenty of biblical material to adapt.
Announced: The Way of The Chosen Sequel Series
The Chosen will indeed be followed up by a sequel series based on the Book of Acts. It will follow the disciples - as well as Saul of Tarsus. Although we didn't get multiple character-focused spinoff series announced, it still seems totally plausible that we might eventually get a few. Early on, it makes sense to focus on a single series, since the followers of Jesus initially remain together after his ascension. That will also allow the show to keep together as much of the cast as possible. Since The Way of The Chosen won't air for a few more years, it's way too early to announce spinoffs for it.
Prediction: The Chosen Presents: The Old Testament Spinoffs
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last Spring, Dallas Jenkins hinted at several Old Testament stories that he’d like to tackle using the approach of The Chosen. Although most of the concepts that he mentions sound like they’re still just ideas, he seems to suggest that a movie based on the story of Ruth is in development.
That seems like exactly the type of Old Testament story that I expect The Chosen will initially branch out into: limited in scope and budget and easily tied to Jesus. I expect these early Old Testament stories will include a frame narrative that takes place in the 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection, before his ascension and will feature Jonathan Roumie’s Jesus teaching his disciples about the Old Testament. Alternatively, I could see a frame narrative that involves the disciples teaching others about Jesus using the Old Testament or perhaps a story involving Jesus’ childhood.
Other than the story of Ruth and Boaz, stories like Noah, Abraham, Jonah, and other prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah seem possible. Given Dallas’ connection to The House of David, a big budget adaptation of the Book of Samuel that is not directly tied to The Chosen, I would be surprised if the story of David is featured in the initial wave of Old Testament spinoffs.
Announced: The Chosen: The Book of Moses
After The Chosen finishes its seventh season, Dallas Jenkins will move on to a three season Book of Moses series. Moses wasn't on the short list of stories that I expected to see, but I wasn't entirely wrong in my reasoning. Based on what Dallas said, it sounds like they aren't doing a full-out Exodus series - that would take far more than three seasons. Instead, the impression that I got was that each season will focus on a different season in Moses' life (kind of like each season of the Queen focuses on a different moment in Queen Elizabeth's life). So they've found a way to make the scope of the Moses story more limited. But the budget for the project certainly won't be. Dallas made it clear that they intend to do the Red Sea moment - and I assume that means we'll also get all the plagues, the pillar of fire and cloud, Sinai - not to mention a massive camp of Israelites (it'll be interesting to see if they go with the plain reading of the numbers or the "thousand" = a troop theory). But since this will be Dallas' baby, I'm sure they can get the funding they need.
Announced: Joseph Series
Dallas also announced a limited series focused on Joseph. Although I didn't mention Joseph on my list, this is exactly the kind of story I was predicting that they would take. It makes a lot of sense that they're doing Joseph too, since it dovetails nicely with the scenery and story of the Moses series.
Update: Ruth Feature Film
In the end, my prediction about a Ruth film turned out to be correct. At a recent event in the Philippines, a Ruth featuring film was included in a summary of projects currently in development.
Update: Noah Series
At the same event in the Philippines, a limited series based on the story of Noah was also listed as being in development. Again, I find myself surprised by how ambitious the upcoming slate from The Chosen Cinematic Universe is, both in the number and difficulty of the stories being developed. That said, I suspect that some of these projects are may be quite distant but are being announced now so that the CCU can mark its territory and scare off potential competitors that might be tempted to go after the same stories.
Prediction: The Chosen Prequels
I also expect The Chosen to dig deeper into events that took place before the opening of the show. The easiest - and most likely - option is to create one or two more Christmas specials: a story about the Magi and King Herod (based on Matthew 2) and perhaps a story about Jesus’ dedication featuring Simeon and Anna (based on Luke 2:22-40). I could also see a John the Baptist prequel, featuring fan favorite David Amito, or perhaps even a movie or show focused on Jesus’ time in the wilderness (Matthew 4) - although I know that idea was done fairly recently by Ewan McGregor.
Prediction Failed (For Now)
This was my only prediction that didn't hit at all. I still think it's quite possible that they will get around to doing this sort of thing, but I get why they may not want to stretch themselves too thin between all of their Old Testament projects, The Way of The Chosen, and the kids series.
Prediction: The Chosen Kids
In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dallas also suggests that he’s planning on doing a kid-focused show. This is an idea I suggested a while ago and it makes a lot of sense. Many families want to share The Chosen with their kids, but some of the content (e.g. scenes involving demons and death) can be a little mature for little ones. My initial pitch was for an animated show that follows Abigail and Joshua (from Season 1 Episode 3) as they have little adventures and interact with Jesus and the disciples in and around the events of Seasons 1-4. I could also see a parables animated series narrated by Jonathan Roumie being quite popular.
Announced: The Chosen Adventures
This was my most spot-on prediction. We will indeed get a series focused on Abigail and Joshua, weaving around the events and characters of the main series. The animation looks pretty cool. I'm excited to share this with my daughters.
Not Predicted: The Chosen in the Wild Reality Show
Dallas also announced a reality show in which Bear Grylls (the survival show guru) takes members of The Chosen cast into the wild. I didn't predict the show and I'm not particularly interested in it, but I'm sure some fans will enjoy it.
Which of these projects are you most interested in? Do you think any of my predictions that didn't materialize would make a good series? Leave your thoughts below!
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