For decades, religious television wasn’t exactly known for pulling in binge-watchers. Say “faith-based show,” and most people pictured stiff acting, Bible cosplay, or a sermon in disguise. Then The Chosen arrived in 2019 and decided to play by different rules. Suddenly, Jesus wasn’t a statue with perfect hair. He laughed, cracked jokes, and argued with his disciples. The drama felt closer to prestige TV than Sunday school homework, and audiences worldwide noticed.
Now, the hit series has cemented its place in history. Dallas Jenkins’ The Chosen just landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most translated season of a streaming series. Season 5 is available in 50 languages, with 36 dubbed and the rest subtitled. You can watch it in everything from Hindi and Italian to Greek, Albanian, and Thai. That’s pretty big.
Mike Kennedy, the vice president of marketing at the Come and See Foundation, summed up the achievement by saying, “It’s always nice to celebrate these milestones when you’re on a journey to a pretty big God-sized vision… For Come and See, our mission is to make the authentic Jesus accessible to everyone around the world through The Chosen. So for us to be able to do this, this is a great milestone for us to be able to hit. We’re just thrilled about this.”
The plan doesn’t stop at 50 languages. The long-term goal is a staggering 600, which would make the show accessible to 95 percent of the world’s population. That commitment to authenticity has been there since day one. As Jenkins put it, “In 2017, I gathered my two co-writers to work on ideas for the show, and I wrote one word in big letters on a big sheet of white paper: AUTHENTIC. We weren’t going to chase stardom or ideas that we thought would result in more ‘success.’ Our job was to be faithful to the character and intentions of Jesus and the Gospels and make the most authentic show we could. Nothing else mattered.”
That vision has worked. The Chosen has been watched by more than 280 million people, with nearly a third of its audience identifying as non-religious. The show’s theatrical runs have grossed over $120 million, its crowdfunding model became historic, and its cultural impact keeps spreading. Graphic novels, study guides, and spin-off projects are already out there.
And if you thought this record was the peak, cameras are rolling in New Mexico on Joseph of Egypt, an eight-episode miniseries from Jenkins and Craig Wright, the creator of Greenleaf. Adam Hashmi (Bridgerton, Criminal Record) stars as Joseph, with Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Jacob.
Faith-based entertainment isn’t a niche corner anymore. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ pulled in $610 million back in 2004, and he’s already working on The Resurrection of the Christ with Jim Caviezel returning. The Chosen’s Guinness World Record just proves that religious drama isn’t fading. It’s thriving, expanding, and finding ways to cross language barriers that most shows never dream of.
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