Warning: This review contains spoilers.

(REVIEW) “The Chosen” opens its fourth season in a way that may anger some fans, but it is easily the strongest premiere the show has had since its first.

It’s worth remembering what a surreal phenomenon “The Chosen” has become in recent years. A short film by a failed Christian filmmaker became the largest crowdfunded project of all time. In the process, it emerged as a phenomenon in Christian circles before gaining mainstream attention and acclaim from filmmakers such as Paul Schraeder.

Even more miraculous is how it managed to do something that I often heard people say couldn’t be done — make a creative and artistic interpretation of Jesus that both Christians and non-Christians accept. Like I said in my first review, “The Chosen” manages to tell stories about Jesus and his followers that are narratively compelling without offending the sensibilities of Christians who think the show is violating the Bible. 

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Obviously, there has been some of that, but not enough to prevent Christians from being its most-vocal advocates. Even as Dallas Jenkins has taken bigger and bigger risks with the material he covers, Christians have largely stood by the series. This shows Christian audiences have much better taste than they’re often given credit for. If you give them something good (that also still embraces their beliefs), they will embrace it. Season 4 of “The Chosen” is its riskiest to date. I’m curious to see if Christians are ready for it.

“The Chosen” Season 4 opens with Jesus and his apostles dealing with the pains of a growing ministry, while His enemies, from the Pharisees to the Romans, also gather in greater opposition to him. 

“The Chosen” Season 4, fitting for a show that has innovated its release strategies from the beginning, has been released in unique fashion. All of the episodes are coming out in theaters first, three episodes at a time (with the last release being two episodes), two weeks apart, on Feb. 1, Feb. 15 and Feb. 29. This means that the releases of this season resemble that of three feature films over the span of a month.  

The Season 4 premiere is much darker and more intense from the start compared to the others in the series — and that is one of its biggest strengths. It is more intense and focused than previous season openers, which tended to grind the exciting momentum the previous season’s finale promised to a halt and then wander around without a clear direction before picking up steam as the episodes progressed.  

This season, the disciples’ interpersonal comradery, and their own growing knowledge of how their mission is growing, is paralleled to the gathering of Jesus’ enemies from all quarters, giving the opener an exciting sense of dread.

The storytelling is generally more confident than previous seasons as well. The first episode focuses on the last days of John and is easily — and effortlessly — one of the best episodes “The Chosen” has ever put out on an artistic and emotional level. The ease with which the opening episode parallels John’s birth, death and how the various characters either anticipate it, are ignorant of it or react to it, are interlaced largely effortlessly, hitting all the right notes.

Because there’s a lot more focus this season, the moments where the show does slow down feels more organic. Jesus and the other disciples still spend much of each episode trading theological questions and answers, but these feel much more closely tied to each character's unfolding arcs and that of the season overall — whether that’s Judas’ doubts about Jesus, Thomas and Rema’s engagement or Preter Quintas and Gaius’s growing animosity. 

One of the highlights character-wise is seeing Peter and Matthew’s reconciliation. This is one of those conversations that the series takes its time with and could have been boring, particularly since it's filmed and paced in a rather basic way, but it feels earned because of all the characters went through to get there. Another highlight is Jesus’ ending confrontation with the Pharisees in the third episode, where the show pulled together several narrative threads with Jesus’ different antagonists, and in which the show really leaned into feeling like a major confrontation between the heroes and the villains — which, you know, being a guy, I always like.  

The show is not without its flaws, but most of them are ones that, frankly, you’ve either accepted as part of this show’s DNA or you’ve stopped watching. Beyond its big moments, the show largely slows to a crawl with conversations that still feel like they are paced and shot in the dullest possible fashion. And when the characters trade spiritual advice, it’s largely hit or miss between profound or vapid.

But what everyone’s going to be talking about from this premiere is the shocking death at the end of the third episode (the one with which the movie premiere ends on). For those used to watching TV shows like “Game of Thrones” or “Breaking Bad,” an unexpected death is expected. But the primary audience for “The Chosen” is faith-based and those seeking comfort. And “The Chosen” has largely fulfilled that, building its episodes around someone in need, and someone who has doubts or questions about God and Jesus comes to them and heals their affliction. This is a deeply important function that “The Chosen” fulfills, letting people come to the show feeling broken and then letting a show that brings Jesus to life make them feel whole. Killing off a beloved character may feel to audiences like a violation of that. (Even though the character is a fictional one made up for the show and therefore doesn’t violate the Gospels). 

I thought the death was a gutsy move that was exactly what the show needed. Jesus' ministry is a battle against the forces of darkness and the apostles are going to eventually face real persecution for their ministry.

The call on Christians has never been to comfort, but to stand up against the forces of darkness and trust God, even in the face of great cost and suffering. Since this story is largely about Jesus training the disciples to be able to be his ambassadors to the world, as His ministry starts to encounter more resistance, they should start to face death in order to learn how to handle death. 

I do, however, have concerns about its aftermath. The death of a central character has to matter, particularly since they were so central to other particular characters on the show. It can’t just serve as a cheap way to increase the stakes of the show. But it’s hard to know what the show will explore with this death, and the doubts and questions it raises about Jesus’ goodness that it hasn’t already explored with Simon Peter’s tragedy from last season. If the show can go in a different but still organic direction, it risks feeling either like a cheap trick or redundant. That, in effect, truly would be an insult to a beloved character.

Overall, this new season of “The Chosen” is its strongest one since the first. If it can build on this with the rest of the season, then it’s possible — as hard as it might be to believe — that Season 4 might be the best to date. 

Season 4 of “The Chosen” is exclusively in theaters from Feb. 1-14 and via streaming at a later date.

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.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephholmesstudios.com.