“The Chosen” creator Dallas Jenkins has launched 5&2 Studios and has unveiled a slate of projects in the works — including an animated series, an unscripted show with Bear Grylls and a multi-season take on the story of Moses.
According to 5&2 Studios’ mission statement, the indie studio plans to “produce Bible-inspired stories through uniquely human and authentic storytelling and audience engagement.” Jenkins was set to announce the new studio and his upcoming programming plans — as well as the roll out of the final two seasons of “The Chosen” — during this weekend’s “ChosenCon” in Orlando, Fla. That two-day gathering of fans features cast members and producers behind the series (about the life of Jesus, played by Jonathan Roumie), which began as a crowdfunded indie short in 2017 but since has become a global smash.
Earlier this year, an arbitrator ended the relationship between Jenkins’ The Chosen LLC and former partner Angel Studios, giving Jenkins oversight of “The Chosen” as he now builds out 5&2 Studios. “The Chosen” Season 6 will focus on the story of the Crucifixion, while Season 7 will center on Jesus’ Resurrection. Both seasons will contain eight episodes, and will include a global theatrical release of extended Crucifixion and Resurrection episodes.
That continues the unique distribution model that “The Chosen” has done since its launch (including “The Chosen” app, theatrical, linear outlets and streaming). Season 5, which began production in April and wrapped in July, is expected to premiere next spring.
Meanwhile, as “The Chosen” continues, the first new series out of the 5&2 Studios shingle will be the animated “The Chosen Adventures,” a youthful take on the Jesus story, featuring voice actors including Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”) and Yvonne Orji (“Insecure”).
Set in the same time and landscape as “The Chosen,” the animated series will focus on Jesus’ interaction with a group of children he meets in the wilderness.
“There’s room here to tell the story of Jesus through the eyes of children in the whimsical format of animation,” Jenkins said. “We thought there’s something there, seeing Jesus through the eyes of kids. We’re not going to expand on that in the mothership show. But what if we took time with that, in an animated show that was witty and fun and that adults could appreciate. We really wanted to get this right. We can’t afford for our second project to come out of the gate and people to go, ‘you know, it’s fine.’ But we really want to make sure that the audience really loves it.”
Also in the works, “The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls” is a six-episode adventure series shooting this fall. Jenkins will take part on camera, as “The Chosen” fan Grylls (“Man vs. Wild”) puts him through some various challenges.
“This is the first of multiple partnerships in the unscripted space,” Jenkins said. “For me as a rugged outdoorsman, I’m very scared about what I’m going to be subjected to. But I’m willing to take one for the team. It’s the idea of partnering with other people who have their own audiences, and for us to bring our thing into their world.”
After “The Chosen” wraps, for his next flagship program, Jenkins plans to next write, direct and showrun a three-season series about the life of Moses.
“There actually isn’t a story in the Bible, possibly even including Jesus, that has more pop culture, historical moments, phrases and imagery than the story of Moses,” Jenkins said. “There’s an epic story that can be told. In the midst of it was a reluctant Tony Soprano, basically the guy who was being tasked with leading the largest family in the world — and didn’t want it. Tony Soprano was always fighting for power, and Moses was actually always trying to give it up. And yet, he’s the one that God chose to lead the biggest religious movement and cultural movement in the history of the world. And he wasn’t qualified. He’s being tasked with verbally confronting the oppressors and slave owners and convincing them to let the Jewish people go. And he has a speech impediment.
“Just like how ‘The Chosen’ asked the question, what would it have been like to meet Jesus and to follow Him or to oppose him, I think the Moses story asks the very same question,” Jenkins added.
Jenkins said the three seasons will be divided into “the three eras of the Moses story. One is the rescue from Egypt. Two is the parting of the Red Sea, the escape, the Exodus and the progression towards the promised land. And then the third season would be after the 40 years of wandering in the desert, as they’re going to actually capture the promised land, Moses actually doesn’t get a chance to experience that. He hands off leadership.”
Jenkins added that after doing seven seasons of “The Chosen,” he’s looking to do shorter series going forward. “The mothership show has made me realize I never want to do seven seasons of anything again as long as I live,” he said. “Part of that may be laziness, but I think this lends itself to three great seasons of eight to 10 episodes a piece.”
Meanwhile, in development are a series about the Acts of the Apostles, and a limited series about Joseph.
“This is a story that can be told in eight episodes,” Jenkins said of “Joseph.” “We have writers that love ‘The Chosen’ and want to have their own stamp on it, but also defer to the larger ‘Chosen’ story that we’re telling. All filmmakers and storytellers that we bring into our fold are going to be people who love the mothership show and have no interest in rewriting the way that we do things.”
As he builds 5&2 Studios, Jenkins is in talks with streamers about an exclusive relationship for both “The Chosen” but also the expanded universe.
“The mothership show will always be free, we promised that, and we’ll never change that,” he said. “The other projects, it will depend. If there’s a streamer that is willing to pay enough to sustain us and make sure that we don’t have to ask people for money, then that’s great. We’re going to talk about exclusive windows and all of that. But we always are going to have a heart to make sure that people who can’t afford to pay for it, or particularly in third world countries, that they have access to it. One of the things that’s going to decide who we work with is who’s willing to ensure that we can be sustainable for the next ten-plus years of making these projects and not have to what I always call ‘dance for nickels ‘on live streams, while at the same time recognizing that there is a large chunk of the world who does need to see this for free.”
As for how aggressive Jenkins plans to be with 5&2 Studios, he warns against comparing it to creative universes like Marvel or Star Wars.
“I think that Marvel and Star Wars —who I love, and this isn’t a criticism — but I think they have struggled at times with oversaturation,” he said. “So, our strategy remains, ‘Is this a story that only we could tell?’ Meaning in our style, our approach, ‘The Chosen’ way. Stressing authenticity, the human connection. If it’s a story that only belongs on an epic scale, from a Ridley Scott or a huge studio that’s going to do a sword and sandals epic, then it’s not for us. Someone else can do that just as well.”
Separately, Jenkins is also behind the upcoming feature “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” from Lionsgate and based on Barbara Robinson’s book of the same name. Judy Greer and Pete Holmes star in the film, which hits theaters on Nov. 8.
“Judy and Pete give the movie a kind of tone that I really want for this, because it’s not a soft Hallmark-y kind of movie, which there’s nothing wrong with those, but I’m really excited for the fact that like the book, it’s very sharp and very witty,” he said. “It’s not just a cheesy kids slapstick Christmas movie, but I think it’s for adults as well. And Judy and Pete are evidence of that. It’s a Nativity story for everybody.”
