NEW YORK, March 28 (UPI) -- Actor Jonathan Roumie says he is happy the Holy Week episodes for Season 5 of The Chosen will be released in theaters -- starting Friday -- and he hopes audience members will incorporate watching them into their Easter and Passover traditions.
"I'm so super-excited for people to experience this, especially in theaters," Roumie, 50, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"Our production level has just increased exponentially since when we first started and, even from last season, which was a level up from the season before. Season 5, you'll be able to see even in IMAX theaters. So, I think it's going to be quite a cinematic event," he said. "I hope it becomes a staple of the culture for many years to come."
Written-directed by Dallas Jenkins and titled The Chosen: Last Supper, the new season chronicles the exultation of Jesus Christ's Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem, followed by his betrayal, arrest and final meal with his disciples the night before his crucifixion.
"We depict scripture that not many other productions have even attempted before and we do it in a way that is very native to how we've been telling the story, which is a message that's kind of gripped people globally," Roumie said.
"It's just made all of the characters in this series seem that much more relatable and accessible."
Roumie said Jesus will experience the entire range of human emotions this season.
"It changes," he added. "His state of mind varies with the circumstances of the scene. He goes from sorrow to disappointment to frustration to righteous anger to sadness to some cheekiness to the occasional bit of joy. The season is mostly heavier than usual."
The first two episodes of Season 5 will premiere in theaters Friday. Fresh episodes will roll out on the big screen in subsequent weeks.
Season 6 is expected to cover the brutal crucifixion itself, while the seventh and final season will wrap with Jesus' resurrection.
Asked how he leaves behind at the end of the day a "character" who is so critical a part of his real-life faith, Roumie replied: "Do I have to let it go?
"I don't know. I mean, I may not go around reciting scripture everywhere, but Jesus isn't a character or a person or a figure that a person who has devoted his life to wants to let go. Life only gets better with more of him in it," Roumie said.
The former Saturday Night Live intern, who also voiced characters on Celebrity Deathmatch and Castlevania, said hosts welcome him warmly when he appears on their chat shows to discuss The Chosen.
"Between Jimmy [Fallon] and Whoopi [Goldberg] on The View, and even Tucker Carlson and Good Morning America, everybody's been so kind and hospitable," he added.
"I've had people in all different camps concerned about every appearance I do and inevitably they're proven wrong. When you just show up where you're invited to go with a sense of humility and knowing who you serve and just sharing your faith or your witness or your story with people, a lot of people can get encouragement out of that. It's never a bad thing," he said.
"At the end of the day, my message is that God is for everyone. God loves everyone and he wants people to be reminded of that and because I've been given a platform to tell them that, that's part of my own personal mission."
The star of the 2023 fact-based drama film, Jesus Revolution, is also well-known for lending his voice to the popular Hallow prayer and meditation app, which features prominent Catholics such as Mark Wahlberg and Chris Pratt.
Roumie said it never crossed his mind when he started making The Chosen nearly a decade ago that such an app would exist, much less be a huge success.
"I think there might have been a Bible app, but we didn't have a prayer app like Hallow that people can actually make a part of their routine and sort of be committed and held accountable through these reminders that, 'Oh, it's time to time to pray the rosary or the liturgy of the hours or the the Bible sleep stories," he said.
"I don't know how to take this, but so many people tell me, 'I fall asleep, listening to your voice every night,'" he laughed. "It is comforting, I guess. I'm going to take it as a compliment because they're ultimately listening to the rosary, so that's always a good thing."
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