‘The Chosen’ Stars Preview ‘Emotional’ & ‘Impactful’ Crucifixion Sequence in Season 6

Carita Rizzo November 3, 2026, 1:00 pm

If the fifth season of The Chosen allowed us to visualize some of the most iconic moments of the New Testament — Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane — the sixth and penultimate season is building up to the most emblematic Biblical event of all: Season 6 will culminate in the Crucifixion of Jesus (Jonathan Roumie), with a theatrical release for the finale timed to the Easter season, on March 12, 2027.

However, the season’s first six episodes, in typical Chosen fashion, will dig deeper into the distressing hours leading into Jesus’ final moments. “You’ve seen the Crucifixion portrayed before, and typically it’s condensed into a small amount of time,” says the show’s creator and showrunner, Dallas Jenkins. “But we know that the time from Jesus’ arrest to His burial was around 24 hours, and there’s so much in that time that we have to unpack. I believe that this will be one of the most impactful portrayals of the Crucifixion ever, because we take our time to give you the ‘Why it happened,’ the ‘Who,’ and what everyone was going through.”

First, the series must return to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus has just been betrayed by Judas (Luke Dimyan). “Do what you came to do,” He told His Apostle, who was teary-eyed as he kissed Jesus’ cheek. That kiss of death was a signal to servant Malchus (Jonathan Togo), who is under High Priest Caiaphas’ (Richard Fancy) orders to deliver Judas’ Rabbi. Jesus will be escorted away to face the High Priest and the Sanhedrin for His “false prophecy.”

He leaves behind 11 Apostles who are all wondering how Judas, someone they considered their brother, came to betray them all. The events at Gethsemane give rise to a spectrum of emotion — and dissent — among the disciples. How can they help Jesus without getting arrested? What would Jesus do?

'The Chosen' Season 6 Trailer: First Look at Crucifixion of Jesus Revealed

“You’re going to see deep, deep anger,” teases Austin Reed Alleman, who plays Apostle Nathanael. “That room is like a pressure cooker. Everyone has different opinions. You’ll see the chaos that comes with that.”

Just as it appears onscreen, the separation of a group of castmates who have grown extraordinarily close over the better part of a decade felt devastating in real life. “In Season 5, there was a moment during filming of the Last Supper where Luke was like, ‘All right guys, this was the last scene that we will all be together,’” recalls Paras Patel, who plays Matthew. “It was heartbreaking.”

Prime Video

And, although Jesus foresaw that He would be deserted by His disciples, even predicting that leader Simon Peter (Shahar Isaac) will deny Him three times before the rooster crows — Simon thinks this is a metaphor — Jesus is also feeling the weight of the isolation.

“Jesus is alone, and He’s abandoned by most of his friends,” Roumie tells us. “He knows that they’re frightened, but He also knows that He’s done everything He can to warn them. And now, it’s up to Him to get through this final act of self-sacrifice with as much grace and strength as He can.”

However, Caiaphas is determined to have Jesus executed to save Israel. As the High Priest told King Herod (Paul Ben-Victor) at the beginning of Season 5, “I have received a prophecy from God. The prophecy is that one man will die for the people, so that our nation will not perish.” Caiaphas thinks that man is Jesus.

Yet, getting Jesus convicted will prove to be challenging for him. We saw Jesus’ silent supporter and respected Pharisee teacher Nicodemus (Erick Avari) storming into the Sanhedrin’s council just in time to remind Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin that they must uphold the law, allowing for a proper hearing and a fair trial. But what should take no less than two days becomes a rapid series of confrontations with former High Priest Annas (Caiaphas’ father-in-law), the Jewish Council, Herod, and Pontius Pilate (Andrew James Allen).

You may think you know where the story goes from there, but we expect a few surprises along the way. As Jesus faces his executioners, it is only Apostle John (George H. Xanthis), with his social connections, and the women in Jesus’ life — Mother Mary (Vanessa Benavente), Mary
Magdalene (Elizabeth Tabish), Tamar (Amber Shana Williams), Eden (Lara Silva), Joanna (Amy Bailey), Mary (Catherine Lidstone), and Martha (Sophia Blum)—who manage to follow Him throughout His final day. “This season shows how relentlessly determined women are, because the men are like, ‘You need to stay behind,’ and they’re like, ‘Try to stop me,'” notes Williams. “And they were there to the very last breath.”

Despite their tenacity, though, witnessing these violent scenes was disconcerting — both for the characters and the actors who portray them. “The way in which this brutal event that took place was just ordinary for the Romans, [that] was quite confronting [for me],” says Xanthis. “It didn’t feel like a Biblical event in the moment. It felt like an execution that took forever.”

Prime Video

Equally, having to watch Roumie in distress was a visceral experience for the actors who were present in Matera, Italy, where the final hours of Jesus’ mortal life were filmed. Williams recalls Roumie coming out in his special effects makeup for the very first time. “Cameras aren’t rolling. We haven’t even started blocking it. When we [saw] him come out, we all just started bawling, because we look at him as our friend, our brother. It reminded us how human this experience was when Jesus suffered through it,” the actress says. “And then watching Vanessa [as Mother Mary], that ripped me up inside.”

From a production standpoint, the day that ends with the Crucifixion is the most ambitious part of the Bible that Jenkins has brought to the screen thus far. “It’s stunning,” says Roumie of the results. “When you look at the footage, you understand why every great filmmaker that’s filmed the Crucifixion using Matera as a backdrop has [shot] there.” (Mel Gibson is just one of many who famously used the spot for his 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ.)

Jenkins is proud of the cast and crew’s accomplishment, adding, “This will be the biggest and most expansive, but also the most intimate and emotional season we’ve ever done.” Being the conductor of such anguish took a toll, though. “It was painful,” admits Jenkins. “Jonathan’s my dear friend. And I’m watching my friends weep for eight hours a day in front of the Cross. There was a point where I realized I don’t have anything left in me. I had to go to the Lord and go, ‘I’m desperate, and I need strength.’”

Still, he promises there will be breaks in the brutality. “We make sure that we’re not just sitting there watching Jesus suffer. We’re also watching others go through this, and I think that’s going to be healing for a lot of people,” he says. “The thing you sometimes miss in Crucifixion portrayals is how this is impacting the people who were closest to Jesus. We show you the people at the Cross. We show you the people in the synagogue. We show you the people in the temple. We show you the people in the Upper Room. We show the people who are most broken by this, because their stories are our stories.”

TV Guide Magazine’s The Chosen: Crucifixion Special Issue is available for order online now at Chosen.TVBooks.com, and for purchase on newsstands nationwide.