'The Chosen' cast opens up about 'brutal' Season 6, portraying Jesus' final hours: 'A painful watch'

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas — For five seasons, the disciples in "The Chosen" have followed Jesus through miracles, persecution, confrontations and faith, often struggling to understand the purpose of His ministry. Now, as the series approaches its most consequential chapter, the actors portraying those closest to Christ say the story is becoming increasingly difficult to tell.

The highly anticipated season 6 of the hit biblical drama, premiering Nov. 15 on Prime Video, follows the final 24 hours of Jesus' earthly life, culminating in His crucifixion as recounted in the gospels. For the cast, the challenge has been portraying the devastation of characters who have come to love and trust Jesus, yet have little understanding of what awaits Him or, more importantly, that the Resurrection is coming.

In interviews with The Christian Post conducted on the set of "The Chosen" in Midlothian, Texas, cast members Paras Patel, Vanessa Benavente, Shahar Isaac, George Xanthis, Noah James and Eric Avari reflected on the weight of the upcoming season and the ways their characters have been transformed by following Jesus.

"I think it's quite a devastating season, but you're going to see certain characters arise in this moment of extreme turmoil and pain, and kind of lead the way," Patel, who portrays fan-favorite disciple Matthew, told CP. "And it's messy. It's not clean. It's a very emotionally charged season."

"I know a lot of people want to avoid this season because it is a crucifixion," the 40-year-old actor added. "It's gonna be a painful watch … I want to encourage viewers to watch it because you're gonna go deep dive into the way 'The Chosen' navigates the space, and you're actually gonna feel come out with it with a sense of renewed hope and strength."

Season five of “The Chosen” ended on a dramatic cliffhanger, with Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) arrested following the Last Supper and Judas' betrayal, setting in motion the events leading to His crucifixion.

But Benavente, who portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus, told CP that preparation for the crucifixion, perhaps the most anticipated scene in the series, began long before filming season six. 

She pointed to a scene in the third season in which Jesus visits Joseph's tomb with Mary and Lazarus and tells His mother that He will not be returning. That conversation, she said, marks the beginning of Mary's long and painful process of preparing to lose her son.

"It has to be a mother's worst nightmare, right?" she said, comparing Mary's experience to that of a parent whose child has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, knowing that the time they have together is limited but not knowing exactly when the end will come.

"How do you say goodbye?" she asked. "Do you just break every time you see Him and cry and remind him how much you love Him, or do you try to make every single day the happiest day, because you know these are the memories that are going to hold him up during the toughest days?"

The women who accompany Mary throughout “The Chosen” also occupy a central place in the season's depiction of the crucifixion, filmed in Matera, Italy. Benavente stressed that Jesus honored women throughout His earthly ministry, and that’s something the series has always emphasized since it launched in 2017.

"I don't think enough emphasis has been put on the fact that the people who were there with him at the very end were the women," Benavente said. "The fact that they were with Him all throughout, but especially in those last moments, it really speaks so much as to the importance of women in His ministry."

For Xanthis, who portrays the apostle John, the presence of women at the crucifixion also reveals something about how Jesus changed the men who followed Him.

John begins the series as one of the "Sons of Thunder," a passionate, strong-willed disciple eager to influence events around him. But over time, Xanthis said, Jesus teaches him a different understanding of strength.

"I feel like the disciples are very stern and manly and proud, and I think that John is being taught," he said. "He's catching on to the sensitivity that Jesus is teaching."

"I think there is something to be learnt about tapping into one's sensitivities," the Australian actor added. "Above all else, he finds that he wants to be there for his rabbi."

Yet even John, despite his closeness to Jesus, cannot fully comprehend what is about to happen.

"I think it's quite well documented, not only in the show but in Scripture, that disciples did not get it; they did not understand what was coming ... they think they have all this time," Xanthis said, adding that, according to the biblical account, the events unfold in less than a day, leaving the disciples struggling to process what is happening around them.

James, who portrays Andrew, described a similar sense of helplessness as the disciples confront a situation they cannot control.

"There's a major crash out happening that day for Andrew and a lot of the followers, just because it doesn't seem real," James said. [Andrew says,] ‘If I follow that, I mean, then what? Then how do I help you, or how do I help us? There's no way to prepare for something that horrific, and then it's just about how do you respond, which is how the story then continues."

Isaac, the Israeli actor who portrays Peter, added that while audiences of “The Chosen” know that the crucifixion will be followed by the Resurrection, Peter, who denied Jesus three times, has no such certainty.

"Like everything on this show, you have to really forget about anything that you know about the story," Isaac said. "You don't want to tell the end of the story. It's very, very important. … We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or in a week or in a year.

Avari, who has portrayed the Pharisee Nicodemus since the series' first season, told CP that the crucifixion represents the culmination of a years-long internal struggle between fear and the cost of following Jesus.

"[Nicodemus] was very slow to come to the realization that Jesus was the Son of Man, and that's for several reasons that he was reluctant to go there," Avari said.

Even after coming to believe Jesus is the Son of Man, Nicodemus wrestles with why Jesus refuses to defend Himself against those seeking His death. Avari said the crucifixion brings a series of revelations, including a moment when Nicodemus watches Jesus being raised on the cross and begins to recognize the fulfillment of Scripture.

"There's a moment where he sees Christ being hoisted up on the cross, and it triggers something in his head," Avari said. "He comes to the tomb, and he sees Jesus laying on the tomb, and that realization that he is dead. That's another discovery for him because he didn't think that was how it was going to play out.”

The season also represents the production's most ambitious undertaking to date.

Created by Dallas Jenkins and produced by 5&2 Studios, the seven-season series began as a crowdfunded project and has since reached more than 300 million viewers, according to the production. Season six was filmed across Texas, Utah and Matera, Italy, where the cast and crew spent three weeks shooting the crucifixion sequences.

Roumie, who portrays Jesus, lost approximately 25 pounds in preparation for the crucifixion scenes, while makeup artists spent hours each day applying increasingly severe wounds to reflect His suffering. For the first time, the series will also depict the spiritual realm, including angels and demons, as the story approaches the cross.

Jenkins described the forthcoming season as “brutal,” adding that both the emotional and physical demands of portraying Jesus' final hours gave the cast and crew a deeper appreciation for His sacrifice. 

“I do believe that it's something that God is allowing in this season for us to just get a small taste of sacrifices that have to be made in order for us to portray the ultimate sacrifice,” he told CP.

“Our only way through it is through prayer and through surrender, and to just go. ‘This is more than we can take. This is more than we can handle. So we're going to need You to absorb some of this for us.’ I think that's when God says, ‘That's exactly where I want you, especially on a season like this.’”

The season of "The Chosen" will unfold across six streaming episodes, beginning with a three-episode premiere Nov. 15, followed by weekly releases through Dec. 6. The story will conclude with "The Chosen Crucifixion," a feature-length theatrical finale scheduled for March 12, 2027.