Writer-director Dallas Jenkins revealed that season two of “The Chosen”, the hit TV show about the life of Jesus, will premiere for everyone on Easter Sunday. 

“It’s going to be Saturday, April 3 for those who invested—those of you who paid it forward—at $300 or more,” Jenkins said in a YouTube livestream. “Any of you who were paying it forward at $300 or more get early access to all the episodes. And that’s true from now until Jesus comes.”

The “pay it forward” strategy has been a part of the funding of “The Chosen” from the beginning—with The Chosen team opting to make the series free to watch on the app and raising money to make each season through donations from fans before they start making the series so that those who can’t afford a streaming service have access to the life-changing message of Jesus.

“It’s important to us to make this show—forever—if someone needs to or wants to watch it for free, they can,” Jenkins said. 

Jenkins also shared that they would be releasing each episode as they finish them, meaning that he couldn’t guarantee a set schedule for when the episodes are available to stream. The production team is working to get the show out as fast as possible, having just finished filming the season two weeks ago and trying to have the first episode out by Easter.

“We’ve been delayed by COVID. We’ve delayed by weather,” Jenkins said. “I mean, you saw when we were in Texas we lost an entire week of filming because of the snowpocalypse—‘snowmageddon’ as they called it.” 

Jenkins and his team plan to release all seven planned seasons of “The Chosen” by 2024.

“I want to shoot to season three in the fall so we can be getting season three to you by this time next year,” Jenkins said. “Our goal is two seasons every year in a half. We want to get seasons one through seven completely out to a billion people within the next three years.”

This is a staggering goal for anyone, let alone a small production company that funds itself with individual donations. But Jenkins believes the world today necessitates people become acquainted with Jesus. 

“We feel a sense of urgency,” he said. “As you know, over the past year the world has gone crazy. From COVID to riots to political divides. All over the world. And our future, how solidified it is, is uncertain. And we feel the need to get seasons three through seven out to you as soon as possible.” 

Jenkins believes that introducing Jesus to the world is exactly what the world needs right now. 

To meet this goal of seven seasons and a billion people, Jenkins said they would need $100 million from their audience. Because they always want “The Chosen” to always be free for people to watch, they’ve created a free app for people to watch each episode, and they’ve created an online store where people can buy shirts, hoodies, devotionals and even a novel version of “The Chosen” written by Jenkins’ own father Jerry Jenkins, the co-writer of the original “Left Behind” books. These purchases go to funding new episodes.

Jenkins also announced that soon “The Chosen” will be pulled from YouTube and only released on the app. The season two premiere will be one of the last episodes that will have a YouTube premiere. Jenkins recognized that some people might be intimidated by the app but insisted having their episodes on YouTube was not viable long term.

“The Chosen” app can be cast to Roku, Apple, Firestick or Chromecast TV. Those who really don’t want to use the app have the option of buying the DVDs.

“The Chosen” has continued to gain media attention from outside Christian sources for their groundbreaking work. Just last month, Jenkins was interviewed by TMZ about how he pulled off filming 2,000 extras in the massive “sermon on the mount” sequence in season two, all while complying with all COVID-19 safety guidelines. This isn’t the first time The Chosen has made national headlines. It gained widespread media attention during its first season by breaking the record for the largest crowdfunded media project of all time.

Season two of “The Chosen” will premiere on April 4 at 8 p.m. EST on “The Chosen” app and YouTube. All season one episodes are available on “The Chosen”app. All The Chosen merchandise is available on www.thechosengifts.com. 

Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast The Overthinkers and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.com where he discusses art, culture, faith and art with his fellow overthinkers.