The Chosen Bible Cinematic Universe Is Upon Us
The Chosen Universe is officially on the way, with showrunner Dallas Jenkins announcing several projects adapting biblical stories in the same style as his hit show about Jesus Christ. These future shows cover a wide range of mediums and genres including unscripted and animated shows. In the MCU era, it’s following suit and building an interconnected world of biblical adaptations.
The Series That Started It All
Produced by 5&2 Studios, The Chosen is being treated as the foundation for Jenkins’ larger biblical universe. That show has proven to be a surprise hit using crowdfunding to finance its production; the show is currently in its fourth season with another three planned. It tells the biblical story of Jesus Christ’s life played by Jonathan Roumie.
While the show was initially a cult hit, The Chosen gained mainstream success when it launched on Peacock, allowing it to expand into a cinematic universe. Moving from exclusively releasing on its own app, the show has become an international hit, even finding success with limited theatrical releases. With this newfound mainstream popularity, 5&2 Studios was able to split with their former partners, Angel Studios, giving them the freedom to expand their creative world.
An Animated Series On The Way
The animated series The Chosen Adventures is the most direct spin-off in the upcoming cinematic universe. It will continue to focus on the life of Jesus Christ, telling the story of a group of children in the wilderness meeting Christ. Intended for children, it will present the religious figure from the perspective of children.
A Moses Story
An untitled show following the story of Moses is also in the works for The Chosen Universe. It seems the most stylistically in line with the original show, telling the famous biblical story over three seasons, each focused on a specific part of the story. The first season will cover Moses’s time in Egypt, the second will tell the story of the Jewish escape into the desert and the final season will pick up after 40 years of wandering.
Bear Grylls Joining
The final planned show for The Chosen Universe is the most divergent from the original, an unscripted show starring survivalist Bear Grylls. Titled The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls it will follow a similar format to Grylls’s previous show, Man vs. Wild. Dallas Jenkins confirmed that the show isn’t the only unscripted series they have planned, calling it “…the first of multiple partnerships in the unscripted space.”
Will Expansion Pay Off?
The three planned shows are new additions to The Chosen Universe, which already has two spin-off shows in development. The first of these shows is Joseph an eight-episode mini-series. An ongoing series centered around the apostles of Jesus is also already in development as a direct spin-off.
Even in the modern, MCU-dominated pop culture landscape, something like The Chosen expanding into a biblical cinematic universe is surprising. For his part Dallas Jenkins is aware of the pitfalls of this type of expansion, directly addressing the MCU and Star Wars models and reassuring fans that 5&2 Studios will try not to overextend their world. One way or another, it will be interesting to see if the religious hit can successfully expand into a world of its own.
Source: Variety
