The Chosen creator Dallas Jenkins clarified the meaning behind Season 5's most emotional scene, which featured Jonathan Roumie's Jesus Christ having visions in the Garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest. After premiering in theaters throughout late May and April, The Chosen Season 5 officially premiered on Amazon Prime Video on June 15, 2025, with all eight episodes rolling out over a three-week span.
Season 5 featured the events of Holy Week, beginning with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and ending with Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane after he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot.
The Chosen writer, creator, and director Dallas Jenkins recently sat down with The Direct's Nathan Johnson to talk about the latest season and peel back the curtain on some of the installment's biggest moments including The Last Supper (which Season 5 is named after) and why certain decisions were made for the scene set in the Garden of Gethsemane, which many consider to be the most emotional scene of Season 5 and of the entire series.
Jenkins teased that "some of [what] takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane will play out over future seasons," but that Jesus' three visions (Abraham and Isaac, Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, and Jesus' earthly father, Joseph) were "all related to hope."
The show's mastermind also discussed playing out The Last Supper across every episode of Season 5, mentioning that "there's so much weight and so many extraordinary moments in The Last Supper" that it would have been too much for just one episode. Jenkins also revealed that each bit of The Last Supper shown "connect[s] to the events of each episode," which was another reason to play it out across the entire season.
Dallas Jenkins Reveals the True Meaning Behind Jesus' Visions in the Garden of Gethsemane
Jesus Needed and Wanted Hope
- The Direct: "I wanted to ask about the visions in the Garden of Gethsemane. I know those are very intentional, and they have deeper connections to the story. How did those specific moments that you included kind of come to mind?"
Dallas Jenkins: "So, some of this that takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane will play out over future seasons as well. So if, if you as a viewer were a little bit unsettled at times or even somewhat in mystery, that was intentional, and as we always do in 'The Chosen,' we don't let mysteries sit forever. We usually play them out. But I don't mind explaining, and I think the audience, if they think deeply about it, can understand that the three moments that Jesus has are all related to hope.
So, as he's remembering moments throughout history, and God is giving him these visions of moments throughout history, he thinks back to Abraham and Isaac, an opportunity where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, but at the last moment, God spared his Son. Jesus is being sacrificed by his father. So he's saying, 'Hey, maybe just like Isaac, I could be spared,' which is true in the Gospels. He says, 'Can I be spared from this? I will do Your will, but if there's another way, please do it.'
He's thinking back to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones, which is a a moment in the Old Testament where the prophet Ezekiel is given a vision of death. Also, Ezekiel was asking, 'Can these bones live? Can there be resurrection from these dead bones?' And the answer, we don't show the answer in this episode, but there's a really beautiful moment in the book of Ezekiel where there's a there's a given answer.
And then seeing his earthly father, Joseph, coming to comfort him and say, 'I'll be waiting for you,' and holding him and kissing him on the on the head. I think those are all just moments of hope and moments of comfort that Jesus was needing and wanting in his darkest hour."
Dallas Jenkins Explains Why The Last Supper Played Out Across Every Episode
"By Doing It in Reverse, You Really Have To Lean In, and You Really Have To Absorb It."
- The Direct: "So when did you know that you wanted to portray the Last Supper out of order? And by the way, the aspect ratio change with that, I thought that was wonderfully done. Why did that work better than playing it out chronologically in a longer scene?"
Jenkins: "So, yeah, the aspect ratio, we just really wanted it to feel a little bit more like a painting. Unlike most of our show, where we're handheld and very loose, (with) The Last Supper, we really were trying to evoke and, I think, play with the historical significance of The Last Supper painting, while also showing you this isn't actually a painting. These were real people.
The decision to play it out over multiple episodes was simply there's so much weight and so many extraordinary moments in The Last Supper, and in the gospels, it's so long that to just do it in one episode and play it out chronologically, I think isn't emotionally sustainable. I think some of these key moments deserve their own moment and their own time and place and their own thematic significance.
So, we would take some of these moments and place them in episodes that had larger themes that matched or worked with the theme of that section of The Last Supper, and to put them all together at once, I think some of them would have competed with each other emotionally.
In terms of doing it in reverse, part of it was we just thought it was a really great way to open the season, a very powerful and emotional way to open the season was near the end of The Last Supper, but also to really cause you to lean in. I think there's the temptation in a famous sequence to relax a little bit and to just kind of experience it in a way that you've expected it. 'Oh, and then now he's about to wash their feet. No, yeah. Now he's going to give the speech about "Take my body and take my blood." And this is what this represents,' and, it just becomes a little bit expected.
By doing it in reverse, you really have to lean in, and you really have to absorb it, and I think that, combined with how we could take those moments and make them connected to the events of each episode, I thought, provided for an artistically impactful way to portray what could be a more routine sequence."
See the full conversation below:
