The Cast of The Chosen Talk about Season 2

oh cause i because liz is waiting i'm going to bring her on in just a second and i want to ask her what she thinks of the cover of the dvd or blu-ray which is now available for pre-sale at thechosengifts.com pre-sale it's not gonna be out for another month and a half two months or so but you can kind of get first in line now and get a discount and all that um here it is so i'm gonna bring on i'm gonna i see liz here i'm gonna try to bring her on all right let me see here i sent the request i don't know what's coming next there she is hi hi liz how are you good and where are you where are you uh now i'm in california now and you have moved so you have moved from texas to california i lived in california ten years went to illinois and now i'm going back to texas so you and i are switching spots just a little flip flop no big deal and my uh our uh viewership just jumped by like 25 when you came on so hello everyone yes so first question most important question what do you think thrilled and excited and was not expecting that jonathan texted me he watched it uh the night before i think and and he like texted me uh screenshots of it and i was sort of flabbergasted and overwhelmed i went through a whole like mixture of emotions i was very excited to find that out yeah we i'm glad that it's like mary and not like the sad lilith character right right so in season one um simon was on the cover uh season two now mary's on the cover we've got actually plans for each season and it seems like the theme is whoever's like struggling through the biggest weirdness uh is gonna is gonna find a place um their compensation is the cover exactly we're like yeah thank you for going through this here you go um take it yeah so um you texted me shortly after the season finale and and i also saw that you posted something that you were screaming in the last month talk me through that what did you think of the oh real quick i just saw this mimi barker says we need a photo of liz finding herself in walmart so that uh i don't know if you ever saw that picture of shahar i do i remember it shahar took a picture of himself in walmart and it's just a selfie and it was kind of like it was very low-fi it wasn't a big professional picture like he's capable of taking and it's it's probably not probably it's one of our top two or three most responded to engaged with photos ever so you have a lot of pressure i'll get to it when it's out when's it supposed to be out i i didn't catch it yeah it'll be a couple months okay yeah so it takes time but we'll we'll for sure remind you um so talk me through that because you have i mean this is what a lot of people don't recognize is that actors especially this season where we were releasing it publicly the moment it was ready and occasionally we would tell you guys hey here's an early access the night before but sometimes we'd forget and not tell you and so it was like you'd see it pretty much with everybody else you know what it was like on that day to film when it's freezing cold you know the camera's pointing at you but you don't really know what we're seeing so what did you think when like what caused you to get so excited uh in that in that final few minutes it was everything honestly first of all watching the the slow-mo with that music it's glorious um and it like the second it goes to slow motion and the second that song starts like you feel it building and then my memory of that day was just just frozen and everyone was just cold and and i i remember i remember the camera going by and knowing it was like gonna be a slow-mo thing my eyes were like swollen and watering and i'm like this is not gonna look good this is gonna look just like terrible that was my my expectation but then watching all the characters all together all at once for the sort of final shot everyone looked uh i hope this is the right word it was haunting yeah it was it was knowing like where this is going and and like kind of an uh a point of no return right it's like no going back after this big enormous public speaking event um and it just couldn't give me the chills in like the best way and uh and then so you're going back and forth and you're seeing all of these peoples and people uh reactions to jesus as as he's looking at them and everyone's so nuanced and connected to like their storylines and then the music hits at this moment where judas is revealed from behind nathaniel and then like you can see his awe his wonder and like oddly a sort of like guilt or something there was just like it's such a loaded moment right that could be us knowing what what's going to happen but it's just like i i don't have words for it but i was just like screaming over it it just it brought the whole story to this like amazing peak and then cut to credits yeah so it was you know seeing then all of the the the crowds the multitudes and jonathan's face at the end it was just perfectly done it really was that's cool to hear um yeah i've got a couple questions for you that have come in from from viewers right now but one thing i wanted to ask was it had to be cool for you to watch to watch luke as judas throughout the episode because you of course don't interact with him at all in the episode um but is there a piece when new actors come on and you know that they're going to be part of the team now do you watch with kind of like a i wonder what they bring to the table what instrument they're going to play in the band and i just love like the crowd reaction to luke was over the moon like people love his performance they're devastated because they know they're going to end up hating this guy or having to hate him but they don't want to because he's so um charming you know he's so sweet he has like a a sense of ethics and and like business ethics and a kindness and you can see him really wanting to like he has one line that also gave me the chills of like don't you want to do something that lasts all of time or something like that and knowing what his the memory of him is going to be just like hurts and he's so sweet and like you don't want him to do what you know he's going to be doing it's powerful and he's he's perfect for the role i remember you i watched you talking about amanda watching him for the philip audition and then like her knowing like this is judas yeah what what a choice like that that was that's inspired he's legit amanda knows what she's doing she does so anna r herndon says question for liz hardest part of playing mary um i think the especially this season it was like being in a pretty good emotional state in my life and then having to like delve into um painful stuff for the character um most of the days where it's just like hanging out walking chatting i love and it's very easy and and easy to get into um but there is a pressure to like to to do do it justice i think and i think that would be the the toughest part for me yeah because because from having worked with you now for for for maybe not a long time but quite a lot of yeah quite a lot of intense three years yeah um it doesn't seem like you uh have i mean sometimes it's hard to if the scene is abnormally intense and maybe there's distractions that might be hard but you once the camera's rolling you're you're you're in the moment and and it seems like a lot of the pressures are more external than they are internal once you're with your scene partners it seems like it goes pretty well um most of the time but yeah i can imagine it's like when you step outside of it for a second and go gosh this is this is bigger than than i than i am and bigger than i expected there's also a gearing up for it it's like the night before of like doing a very intense scene it's like can i will i be able to deliver i you know it's just it's jitters it's it's it's hoping that like it it comes when it's supposed to happen and yeah it's just there's pressure just acting pressure just normal so these are i'm going to ask you or two more questions because we got several of the of your fellow cast members who are up here and going to be coming on in just a second um but one question that i'll ask kind of each of you because someone asked from denise she says are the actors ever surprised by what they are learning about the people they're playing do they have any who knew moments like things that you when you as you've done any research for mary magdalene um which of course there's not a ton of information but uh but is there anything that when you when you research mary magdalene uh that you thought huh that's interesting i wouldn't have suspected that or oh that's gonna be fun to kind of portray a different shape i didn't know she was possessed i really didn't the only thing i knew about mary was that she was like jesus's best gal pal and and uh she was there that she was the first at the resurrection and so when i read the scripts for season one i was like is this what is is this really what happened and looking it up like that is a biblical thing like she was exercised of seven demons in the bible and i i had no idea and i i i most of my family and friends like didn't know that either so i was kind of surprised by that major character points right it's funny because it's actually how she's introduced in the bible right right you have one of his followers with mary magdalene who had 17 but they say it so casually it's like no big deal yeah yeah just a day in the life yeah so i'm like well we're going to spend a whole episode on that it's like oh that's fine we um so anyway i'm going to let you go i thank you so much for being willing to come on for of course um but uh yeah season two the finale got so much great response and we thought you know what let's just come on and have a little kind of a reminiscing a little recap and uh so fun yeah well thanks so much liz and we will uh absolutely bye bye everyone all right so how do we this is the part that always gets awkward when you try to get on i'll hit the little i leave there okay great glad we figured that out all right let me see who else is waiting let's see here we've got um allah who plays simon z let's see if i can get him in here he's next in line let's see there he is hello hello hello brother how are you doing i'm good are you in italy right now i am i am in italy yeah i think my ninth walk oh yeah what time is it what time is it in italy right now it's uh it's almost one it's a quarter to one in the morning yeah i didn't want to miss it it's good to see you yeah it's good to see you brother we just got um these are the the five comments that came in when you joined one said allah with like five [Music] and then someone said yay simon the zealot with three exclamation points so a lot of people really excited um so one question yeah so the first question is from someone said what is your favorite part about playing simon z um i was thinking you know it's the whole um being able to understand what it is uh what is what it's like to um to spend a lifetime devoted to an idea that you could possibly drop in a split second for someone or for some some something much bigger than yourself and being able to just out the window i'm here now um i have no idea what this is about but i'm i it it must be it must be better um especially you know when you're when it's physical work and also you know just like uh radical devotion to to an ideology and everything that's i think that was the most interesting part for me is to uh to be able to give it all up for someone you know for for um and being just seeing that someone in flesh in front of you you know that that scene with uh caleb being you know uh freed from the the demon and that being also uh when when simon sees jesus for the first time in person uh was i think was my favorite moment to shoot and to and to watch too so yeah so one thing i'm curious about is so just to be clear for for you who are watching um allah does all of his own stunts of course all of his own martial arts he's extremely trained has been doing this for many many years did it professionally for many years so all of that is totally real and also quick a little bit of trivia for you allah is most likely not all of the disciples have done participated in this race but he is the fastest runner of the whole group we did a race after one of our days and uh allah smoked us all i actually participated in it and um there's a couple people who are pretty fast who didn't participate in that race so we'll find out for more but um here's my question for you is you know that you watched episode um seven when james and john are talking about your character yes you are doing your warm-ups and your kind of your daily routine and i was curious this goes to what i asked liz as well this woman who asked are the actors ever surprised by what they are learning about who they played so i was curious if that scene for you was interesting watching two other characters talk about your character while you're doing all these moves and warm-ups and if that was insightful for you or if that was similar to any research you've done what's kind of been the most interesting thing about about that i i think you know the most interesting part for me uh um is you know whenever your your character is mentioned by other characters and he's not there or he's not involved in in the scene directly um it's always interesting because it gives you keys you know clues uh to your character that you don't have as you know in first person so um it's interesting to to to hear them talk about the zealots and how um i think john says he he so wanted to join them or no that's not john it's um big james i'm gonna um and that was really interesting because it just gives that it just feeds that whole dimension of what the zealots were and or you know or at least for for us in our version and so um just um i don't know i remember to me it was it was it was much simpler than that you know the way it was just about uh trying to figure out what what that would wouldn't be anachronic anachronistic um but um because yeah that was a big that was a big big uh matter i'd say um but then but then yeah it was interesting to just see what this again with this movement is that it's represented for for jews uh back then and and uh just that that temptation of um just like what we see today with with other religions you know when we when we mention the word jihad you know and what men think they have to to do for for god and and it's just like the same stream of devotion of pure and sincere devotion directed in the wrong direction and um and to see uh how the two brothers are talking about like you know i i i i thought of joining the movement uh uh before and and so that was uh to me that was really interesting yeah um so i'll ask alaska one more question because we've got many other uh of your friends yeah um just curious your thoughts on the season finale and now that you've been able to see the whole season uh what did you think as you're watching uh the episode come to an end i joined the live when you were talking with liz about it and what liz was saying about uh the point of no return uh is exactly what i thought it's that big moment of uh of just jumping in jumping into the pool of sharks of sharks and and knowing that it's it's uh you know that it has to happen it has to happen but where but the the sweet thing is you definitely get the idea that we're all in it together like the the disciples are all kind of um supporting jesus with their looks and and and uh and he's going in and it's very and it's that parallel with uh again the idea of getting going on stage and um the feeling of going going on stage and how you connect with people behind the curtains before you going on stage is uh just felt that this except that he's not just gonna give a show he's he's gonna change the world and and that's that's uh it was very it was very emotional obviously it's so beautiful how just to see how it all comes together and i just wanted to say the music of the show uh must be one of my favorite things um you know if we could i think if we could hear the music on set when we were filming the scenes i i don't think i think i'd be overwhelmed i wouldn't be able to to do it i think it would be too much because you definitely have to uh step back into the audience seat so um beautiful brother i i meant to say use this second to say i'm really proud of you and everyone in the project and and i wanted to thank everyone and i also wanted to thank everyone who's watching um it's such a such a powerful adventure and i can't wait to get back on set so i mean either um well i love you brother and a couple quick comments that people are making i just wanted you to hear them before i let you go people are quoting not not zealous but uh not zealots but zealous there's a difference that's your line that they loved uh someone said such a beautiful man um someone sent a bunch of hearts uh someone said he's a sweet zealot uh the martial art martial arts training great to watch the flips and tricks are amazing um so just you know the fans loved you and embraced you from from uh from the first episode you were on so thank you so much for bringing such a beautiful beautiful role to our show humble thank you thank you so much thank you everyone and thank you dallas all right talk to you soon brother here you too bye this is where it always gets awkward where we try to okay he's good all right let me see who we got next oh it looks like vanessa is here and it is like way late so i'm gonna bring her and noah james has been here for a little bit noah please forgive me i'm gonna bring in vanessa just because i know it's late at night where she is let's see if i can bring her on let's see if she's here there she's here hello hey there i am like literally ready to go to bed i'm my pjs what time what time does it work um actually it's same as alla it's um uh one almost one yeah and you're in spain i am in spain yes we're here on vacation i'm actually at my dad's house in malaga in the south of spain okay so real quick the audience to know is is your husband around he is however he's putting the baby to sleep which is why i can be here right now because i wanted people to see him because people don't know that you are married to the pharisee from episode 6 um yells at jesus and says if god wanted him to be healed he got it himself and uh let me see if let me see if he's around i mean you know the baby takes a long time to sleep so maybe she's gone down but shh everybody uriah asked me if i've got a haircut yes i do they want to see you too yeah yeah you guys want to see my baby too come here i'm here join the live stream here we go hello hello i know she needs to go to bed now oh yeah trying we're trying hello all right well good to see you and i yeah i let everyone know uh this is everybody's favorite pharisees [Laughter] you know what i was actually gonna say something because um everybody's been talking about everybody's been talking about the music for the show and olivia loves the walk on the water song she loves it she dances to it every every time you start watching an episode she's touched well and one of my i know that's awesome one of my favorite pieces of music is is in your husband's scene well you're in the scene too if you're in the synagogue and and the music just kind of starts kicking in like like big things are coming so real quick there's people who are commenting i want you to hear this as soon as you got on it was uh vanessa all caps vanessa with a bunch of hearts someone said someone said tell noah to marry me so that's that's for someone else okay um i'll be sure to pass that along yes and to his girlfriend as well too exactly uh catherine says you are so beautiful as mother mary um vanessa i love her hello beautiful hi mother mary spain espana um we love love love love vanessa as mother mary so yeah so what happened like i think that's the most common question people have is what is what it's like for you to portray and i've asked you this before that well you know a lot of people are here are new the most maybe one of the top three most famous women in the history of the world and certainly probably the most beloved woman in the history of the world um i don't know if you knew that but what do you what do you what's it like it's well you know um say to say it's a huge responsibility it's not doesn't even come close but i really there's something because i mean i think there's like there's like this huge responsibility and then also not a lot of people know what she actually looked like or you know the way she talked or or what her demeanor was um they can only you know sus like it's an intuition almost you know like what what they think she must have been like so that makes it a little easier on me because it's not like there's a a a like a like a picture or or something in in people's minds of how exactly she behaved and so um that lives that leaves a little a little bit of freedom for me to kind of investigate and and and find my my own version of mary um so that kind of puts me at ease a little bit i try not to think too much about all that um but i do uh have i do kind of like putting in the center of of of my portrayal the fact that she is a mother and that that is her life's work you know just just you know other people you know have other talents and put their talents to some other uses that that's her life's work and i i think that um that yeah that because i am a mother i think i can i can you know kind of smell what that must be like um and then i just you know try to try to kind of try to honor the words on the page because i mean i always say this the writing on the show is impeccable so it's not only a privilege and an honor to be um um putting breathing life into these characters but also um you try to get yourself out of the way because the words are already there and they are already beautiful and they are a perfect map of what you need to be feeling and what you need to uh be thinking about and and it just flows so i have two questions for you because there's other actors some of your fellow actors who are waiting as well so we won't want to take too much time but yeah one of them is uh one of the questions that came in was what was your favorite scene to film this season and as part of that that made me think of the question what did you think when you watched because i know two of the scenes that you did that i i would imagine were your favorites was one when you were around the fire telling the whole story of of the birth of jesus and then also with jonathan um in the final scene uh final episode when you and jonathan are talking to each other about missing his father and all of that i'm guessing it's one of those two scenes that you really love doing but what was it like watching it later different from when you're actually doing it um i can be very critical of myself so it's a little i i try kind of like to not listen to to that and it's funny because i was more critical of myself during when i watched episode three um where i was going like oh what are you doing with your face you know like all these things there was so much happening i was like oh no um but the scene with jonathan actually i my inner critic just like i don't know where it went i was just living it and and and and even crying with myself which is like insane i don't and that never happens to me that really never happens to me so um yeah i mean watching yourself is tricky because you know you're there there's no when you are in the moment and you are acting it i feel like you're feeling all these things and and you hope all that is um is you're showing all that you know um so here's a couple of comments just in case you were wondering about that scene um you represent the part so well vanessa thank you um love the absolute love you and jesus show for each other uh your soul shines right through um i love her interactions with everybody that uh dina says best actress ever to portray mother mary wow you are the perfect mother mary in every way said someone else vanessa you are amazing we all love our ima mary so the way you do her emotions is incredible thank you for your beautiful portrayal so it's just one right after another and then this brings me to the final question because several people are oh my goodness you are so young is this your least favorite part of playing mother mary which is the every single day you have to go through at least two hours of makeup which is a great compliment to patty who does your makeup because so many people are shocked when they saw you they were like oh my gosh i wouldn't have recognized you even even crew even crew on season one i remember just like doing a double take at the wrap party going like wait wait what you know um but yeah it's it's insane what patty does and how meticulous she is in taking care of my skin because um it's tricky all the stuff that i have to have to be pulling and i have to be like and it's like literally the thing that they tell you not to do with your skin is exactly what i'm doing with my skin when they put all that makeup on um so i appreciate her and all those for all those things um yeah i guess that's that that is is my least favorite part um it's actually my least favorite when i have to go home and then instead of just wrapping and taking off my clothes and you know going home i actually have to go back to the makeup chair and take it all off that i think that's because when you know when when when you get there it's all part of the jitters and like that you know you get to do all this and you're kind of concentrating but um it's a little tougher when you have to go home yeah i can imagine well um everybody is just the comments are just flowing through about how much they love you um i you everyone it's it's such a here's here's what i want to say before i let you go having one of our key actors have to take two hours or more in the makeup church chair every day is obviously not ideal because it's it's such a delay it's not fun for you and it's a it makes sometimes it makes us wait and we always say everybody says it it is so worth it you are such a beautiful actress you do such a great job and i'm so glad that we found you when we were casting mother mary and uh it is just such a joy to have you on on the project because and it is worth every single second that you take getting in makeup i know it's no fun but um it's just you there's no one else who could do this role like you do so thank you so much i am you know just i consider myself like that's what that's another thing that really gets me through those two hours and parigo is always like oh you're such a trooper you never complain i'm like because i feel like the luckiest girl ever i mean like you said it it just wouldn't make sense to catch someone like me for a role like this and the fact that i'm there and that i get to play with this writing and these these amazing castmates three hours yes yes well thank you so much vanessa um we'll let you go now go go bye everyone say hello get some rest dallas i will i will try good to see you love you yeah bye-bye all right let's try to make this work i think you're supposed to click the x vanessa i am okay wait x bye bye all right let's see who's next noah was next in line but i don't i'm gonna see this see if he's still here because noah was waiting the longest let's see noah and i've got a few more waiting keep just be patient my fellow lovely actors i should say my fellow noah hello thank you for your patience i know you were here first but i got in uh allah and vanessa casey oh it was good to see them all yeah they're in spain and italy so i thought let's go yes make sense yes and where are you uh where are you from right now i'm in l.a i'm in los angeles yeah all right well we've got people um the moment you came on oh we gained like 300 uh viewers so and this is what everyone seems to okay this is funny these are the comments we're getting so normally when actors come on you get like a oh hey and good to see you and they start asking questions this is perfect for you because this fits your personality the first eight comments are noah in all caps with like eight exclamation points yes i love the streaming i love screaming as i ride good yeah so i see noah noah noah there he is love you all caps so that's pretty accurate for what we experience on the set when noah's around so yes i have to warn the sound people i'm always like i i apologize for my volume yes and uh someone else says andrew with his fabulous hair um so everyone always loves your hair oh thank you um so have you seen the bloopers yet at the end of episode eight i love them so much yeah i'm so happy that you put and obviously there were the bloopers from the first season of like getting to the fountain but then this was a whole you know five or six minutes of bloopers yeah love them i've already watched it like three times yeah so we've got the season one bloopers that we're going to be releasing in the app uh sometime in the near future but my one of my favorite bloopers it's just if you're watching now and you haven't seen them yet if you go to the app at the end of the closing credits of episode eight the season finale of season two we put in some bloopers and uh my favorite one is shahar when he's talking through like at the end of that scene shahar would just start ad libbing like all right i'm going to take over the schedule and he would start rattling off all the things that they were going to do because james and john had been trying to run the schedule and and simon didn't like it so he says we're going to stop by the lepers he's like okay 9 a.m hit the leopard colony a few minutes head out of there like go to the lake and it's just so funny to imagine like we roll up in the van and we're like hello see you later all right right keep up the good work be away from everybody good luck [Music] sorry about the whole thing you're dealing with but i thought that as he's saying it too you can see him there's the the i love that look that we actors get sometimes where you're like you will have to cut this won't work so he's like 9 a.m he's like okay can't use that but i'll just keep going and it just goes downhill from there yeah right so um so anyway last episode of the season i you either i don't remember if you texted me this or if i just saw you post this somewhere um but you said oh yeah you texted me this because you said you were you were basically hitting your legs like smacking your you know yeah um talk me through that because people know that you guys are on the set acting these things out and that you don't it's hard sometimes as actors to appreciate the show as a viewer so talk through watching that final scene what was it that got you so excited and what's it like just as an actor watching your show but from a from almost from a fan perspective you know when you're able to see it and and not get swept up in what you were doing on that day yeah i've been getting better at being less self-conscious and just trying to i mean but i have to watch it alone first that's the only way that i can i like encounter it for the first time with only myself so i can be like okay all right i've gotten over my kind of watching whatever you know i'm doing because that's not the way to really you know watch the show then when i can really sort of see it for for the work that everyone has done and and it's such an ensemble cast and crew that it's just it's it's beautiful seeing everybody's work and so that final shot of jesus walking towards the the curtains that gets me maybe it gets me also because i'm a theater guy and uh and i just know that feeling of of um okay we're ready to give this to the world and it it captured that so beautifully and i was really moved by by vanessa and jonathan scene you know and talking about his father and and and then all right let's go and he walks out and i wanted to say thank you to everyone who is there at the sermon on the mount because a lot of the times people know that it's icy cold when we were filming a lot of this be like wow you didn't look cold at all on screen like oh thank you because afterwards we were you know dying afterwards but you do try when he yells at when you yell action you know you try to get that away from you and breathe normally but background not you know whether they were actors or not whenever background was on camera no one looked cold everyone was there for a purpose and when jesus parted the curtains and we saw everyone and everyone started to sit to prepare to listen to the sermon that's a really moving moment and that's why when it ends right there i know i'm sure some people are like i wanted to see more i thought that was perfect i i thought that was the absolute correct way to finish the season and the fact that we do hear some of the sermon before as we're seeing some of the disciples and and sort of who he is thinking of as it's sort of coming out and but just ending right there as everyone prepares to hear is i thought a beautiful metaphor for what what is happening in the show yeah if we wouldn't have shown some of the sermon earlier in the episode when he's with matthew that would have been a cheat you know just to build up the whole season and then just stop it but i felt i felt okay about it because we did show a good chunk of the sermon um so i don't know if you watched the live stream but after or if you just watched the episode by itself but afterwards um we had a guest on a pastor named levi lusko who was a really great guy really great pastor and he said this moment i mentioned andrew's character he's like i got beef with andrew right now and and multiple people have been like i am so frustrated with andrew right now and um but i i i think that's a really good thing obviously and levi so i'm curious you your your part has been so often the the upbeat guy the very trustful very faithful um when jesus asks to do something you immediately do it and simon's kind of more hesitant and we talked about this you and shahar and me about how you guys um are kind of balancing each other and that's that started in episode one when um other than the occasional scenes when you guys were griping at each other for the most part if you're up he's down if he's wanting to try something you're wanting to be more cautious um but but talk through from your perspective as an actor finding that different gear in the second half of this season um where in my opinion you know as as we wrote it john the baptist's death not death uh sorry that comes later spoiler alert um but um john the baptist's uh you know the rest yeah you want a downhill slope and you don't go to jesus you just kind of lose it so just as an actor um what was it like to try to kind of shift gears from from who andrew's been well first it was really exciting because that as an actor when you get to see you know i'm reading the scripts and it starts you know the first four or five episodes are are very in line with where andrew was moving towards being you know cheerful fun putting in some one-liners and stuff which is always lovely i i love doing that and then seeing some serious kind of freak out moments um i responded really deeply to that and i i wasn't nervous about it i was excited because to me that made perfect sense so it was funny seeing pastor say i have beef with andrew because to me i'm like that makes the most sense it makes more sense to me to behave the way andrew did than to be calm and collected because the stress test of john being arrested and then knowing that word is spreading and the romans may try to arrest jesus and knowing so in episode four saying you know i've we i we saw the messiah anything is possible now and knowing wow i can't wait to give this gift to the world or be part of the spreading of that and then to think ah it's not going the way that we thought and it actually could be in danger of not happening it could be in danger of this sermon never going through or him being sort of um taken away from us before the gifts could be given and so that's the most terrifying thing in the world i think to andrew and so the idea that i would do whatever it takes to to make sure that doesn't happen and and then to see the romans approaching uh the campgrounds from the water knowing there's nothing you can do rushing back and and thinking you know how did you all let this happen i would have gone out on my you know reward and so that that i just connected really deeply to and i was happy to be the voice of that uh tension in the show in those moments and and be the kind of expression of the fear and and doubt that obviously isn't the most uh positive or healthy way to respond but it is very truthful i feel like i i feel we all have that those worries if if someone you know gets put in the hospital or you're waiting for test results on something or whatever and every moment you're just hoping and if there's anything you could do you know you're like i would crawl my way there and so i i just i just really connected to that um you know perhaps unhealthy way of of trying to do anything you can um instead of the healthier option right because well and that's the whole conceit of the show which is that these were normal human beings and so often they've been portrayed as as cardboard characters or stained glass window constructions of of not real human beings and so anytime an audience member gets a little uncomfortable with uh our heroes of the faith being portrayed as struggling i'm kind of like okay good you should be a little uncomfortable yeah yeah i agree that's good yeah um so uh we've got like five other actors waiting to come on here so i'll let them come on but you have anything you know anything you just want to say to the to the fans because i know um of of all the actors i'd say you're in the top five of people just people feel that i think the desire to express to you how much they appreciate your performance and your role in the project i just want to say that um i so appreciate the love and support for the show and for us as performers and crew and everything and um i'm just so moved by the growth of empathy any time that that can be sort of fostered and and grown in the community just being so loving with with one another and with us um it's just so i i'm so thankful to be part of it i i'm and i can't thank you enough for for bringing me and and the rest of us on this this journey with the show yep and just so everyone remembers not a lot of people know this story but i'll just let you go with this which is that uh noah originally i met him because he auditioned for the role of the shepherd in the original christmas short film that we did and i someone else got the role but i thought uh as soon as we started casting to chosen i said i gotta go find that guy uh noah james was fantastic and uh he was he was right in there so noah i'll let you go here but just you know again the comments are pouring through amazing job portraying andrew thank you so much um someone said i always react like andrew did so i really did get it um so that was the thing i think people who struggle with anxiety can go okay even andrew struggles with that right and then in future seasons like in season three when we show more of the sermon on the mount jesus actually preaches in the sermon be anxious for nothing like he talks about how the birds of the air are taken care of by jesus so don't i care about you so that'll be part of andrew's journey as well so that next time things are only going to get worse and so it'll be cool yes i know yeah but yeah i think it's gonna be cool to see is andrew going to learn from some of the lessons of how he handles the first time and be potentially a leader as opposed to everyone else going like whoa he's making he's making us more stressed you know so thank you noah and i think you're supposed to want to be the one to click the yes goodbye goodbye all right bye-bye all right amber so now amber i am sending it sending the request see if this works amber williams who plays there she is hi hello how are you oh good and look at you and your glasses they're so cool thank you blue light glasses yeah i wear blue light glasses now too like all the time um it just it gives you like the best sleep ever it really does yes it's really actually made a difference for me so um where are you where are you coming in from right now well i am actually not too far from vanessa and we're trying to link up so i'm in spain right now currently in madrid and why are you in spain amber you know people usually move abroad for two reasons either work or love mine was the latter i i moved here for love god god swept up by some spanish dude and um we'll be getting married one of these days yeah well yes a lot of people didn't know that but amber is engaged and is in spain so that's why when you called in i thought i'd forgotten when you when we texted yesterday and i thought she she might be in spain too so it's about one o'clock like 1 20 in the morning right yeah yeah well yeah it's about about 1 30 almost but and i'm all over the place you know that like so i'll be in new york next month and so it's just i'm all over the place well uh because we're kind of doing if you've been watching it all we're doing this kind of quick hit just asking a couple questions and then letting you go because we've got a few actors who are waiting but i'm just curious first of all uh the return of tamar in the last just couple episodes um came on big and now she's part of the team and will be with us for a little while at least you know we never know how long uh some of our non-biblical characters you never know um but you never know um i like to tell people that even though i mean because there's lots of tamar's you know because a lot of people have the same name joseph and james um i'm like even though this tomorrow wasn't named specifically in in the big book that there were tons of people like her in that time um not necessarily named by name but they were there were plenty of tamar's here um and so that's how i kind of like to look at it so even though it's a bit of creative license it's also telling the true stories of people who were there at that time and who had this i mean think all these incredible stories the ladies who touched the cloth and and just people who believed and i think she was one of those somewhere absolutely um absolutely so we um oftentimes when i when i announced that we were doing this live instagram live some people said well you should i know you're having actors on but you should have some fans on as well and i thought i am bringing some fans on because amber you were like from from what i've seen in some of your other interviews a chosen super fan um from from the beginning so i'm curious um just from your perspective watching season two like i i'm i when i think of you i think i hope amber really liked it because she she came in as a fan before she came in as an actress in the show so did you like season two did you like the last two episodes i absolutely love the last two episodes and every time i watch a show and i'm gonna tell you guys and i hope none of the other projects i worked on watching this right now but um i don't always follow along with things that i've done or continue to watch after my work is over um literally the chosen is the only thing that i have seen every single episode episodes i'm not in episodes before i even got on the show and like me and my fiance are there he's like you didn't watch it without me did you and i'm like no of course of course i didn't catch it on do you like it and so um it's it's really incredible and even though i know these beautiful people who play these amazing characters it's like it's like watching it's kind of surreal because i'm watching them on screen and just for kind of forgetting that i know them personally and just being just as involved in the story as the fans are and so i think i had seen maybe one episode and then i got the call from my agent and she's like yeah they chose i'm like you know what i think i i think i've uh i've yeah i've seen i've seen that or heard of it watched all the episodes and i was like you need to get me on there yesterday please do whatever you have to do and i think a lot of people don't know but i additionally uh uh initially auditioned for fatina yeah the woman at the well yeah so you have to tell me what happened between there but i do know that um i just i felt so incredibly blessed because the call came pretty quickly uh i think i did an audition thank god i got requested to do tomorrow like maybe the next week and then the next thing i know they're like okay you got it i was like i will fly my behind from madrid to dallas just to do this that's how much i love this show that's how much i wanted to be a part of this project is that i put it just because you know i thought it was for the episode and i was so excited and and just honored i i flew all the way to dallas so i didn't make any money i didn't make any money for the first season and that was okay with me that's how much i believed in the project wow that's awesome and uh you've been such a great addition to the cast and i we always like to when we're putting the cast together it's like almost like an orchestra you're like different instruments each person plays a different instrument and you absolutely bring a different instrument to the to the show and i'm um first of all we're getting so many comments just people saying you are so beautiful so wonderful thank you so much we love your courage everyone talks about tomorrow's courage and faith i mean you are you play a strong woman in this show and so uh that's the main question i want to ask you is your thoughts on tamar and are there differences between you and tamar um but i think multiple people have asked like you know the difference between you and your character what about what about playing tomorrow has been has been interesting for you um i think i've said this before if anyone's ever seen any of the interviews that i've done is that everyone needs a friend like tomorrow i think i say this all the time everyone needs a friend like tamar and if you're not if you don't have a friend like tomorrow then you need to be a tomorrow like because that is just an incredible person to have a new roster at all times i think i i would be you know lacking all kinds of humbleness or modesty if i said that i was like tamar i i strive to to have some of the the the characteristics and traits that she has and and and um honestly because one of my mottos is faith and so it's really funny how that ended up being my scene and then and jesus telling tomorrow that her faith is beautiful because i've spent the the past eight years stepping out on faith having no idea what's going to be coming next and that's been dictating every next move that's been going on in my life so if there's anything that i did have in common with her it's that because just like andrew amber me i have i have anxiety and you know that has no place in my life and the and the way that i best kind of attack that is just to step out on faith because i i always say that when you have the choice between doing what's safe and what's comfortable and stepping out of faith you want to always step on faith because that's that's where the most beautiful things and that's where the magic lies um i would never be here now if i decided to do what wouldn't be comfortable comfortable if i didn't decide to trust in the process to trust in god um i had to ask for discernment because you know you're asking for all of these signs god sent me a sign and often he's sending you all the signs and you're just thinking wow my life is just really hard right now why and it's often i decided the way i translated that is that um we often spend a lot of time um getting signs but we just can't interpret them it's like it's like you speak greek but the signs are coming in chinese but you're getting the signs so when you ask for a sermon it's really to help you to understand what it is and so that's that was my big girl prayer that i made that allowed me to more easily embrace the faith and god it's such a long answer for a simple question that's what i feel like i have in common with tomorrow no it really is and uh and as you were speaking i mean again the comments just coming through someone someone just said thank you so much for sharing this i struggle with anxiety too um you know that's one of the great things about the show is how many people say because i'm seeing these followers of jesus have struggles or have issues or have strengths that i can learn from um i can identify with it and so yeah that's one of the cool things and it's i just it's fun when i think of tomorrow's journey you know she goes to jesus gets her friend healed and then she starts telling everybody i mean she she's breaking through uh ceilings in season one and then she's doing it again in season two like they're like hey stop stop stop she's like what are you talking about like a woman of all people this ethiopian woman uh this pagan you know like because you know she isn't jewish and it's just like how how and it just goes to show how how much of an impact just jesus had on those who weren't even thinking of following him or even knew who he was and that's just as relevant today as well and um i don't know i was really excited about that because in season two especially in season eight because my fiance told me he was like the thing i loved about tamar for episode eight excuse me episode eight was that she got to be happy for a little bit she was smiling and she was making jokes and she was able to to live in another vein of who she was because she is a fighter and she's like no you're not i'm not a child you're not going to tell me that i can't spread the word um and she just got a chance to just to feel i guess just at peace you know this is the first time you see her at peace and that's when she's literally the closest to to jesus and that's that's you know what she's there at camp and i thought that was a really nice metaphor whether it was intentional or not absolutely well amber uh you get such a beautiful performance and uh it's i'm so you know we're writing right now season three and working out the scripts and we got some fun stuff planned just for you now now that you're part of the group now you're now that you've got a family to be with thank you looking forward to uh seeing you more in future season so i'm gonna let you go just because we've got other actors coming on but thank you so much for coming in from from spain at one and 1 30 in the morning thank you for having me and thank you everyone for your support bye-bye all right so there's an x yeah there you go all right let's see who's next i got austin got a few more here and then we will let you go this is austin who's should be coming on in just a second who plays nathaniel another newcomer to the cast sorry austin um austin thanks so much for coming on man where are you where are you calling in from uh new york city yeah austin is one of our new york folks so um first things first i have not talked to you a whole lot since the debut of episode two of this season which was in many ways you know the nathaniel episode and i heard from so many people i mean just countless people um we saw videos of people crying we saw people writing long essays about how much your performance and your character ministered to them and spoke to them because of how many people could identify with having their dreams crushed and you and i spoke on the set when we were filming that day where you were under the fig tree and i shared with you that your character uh the storyline was based a little bit on mine where i had done a lot of things for god and they all kind of came crashing down and i wondered uh what was next i'm wondering um two things one is have you felt that as well have people been contacting you and thanking you for your performance and expressing how much they loved the episode and then two um just as an actor were you able to identify with nathaniel in some way uh yes to both of those um i've gotten tons of messages especially after that episode uh from people all around the world which was so uh surprising and i've never had something like that before in my life um and i'm just really happy that it's uh spoke to people and uh done done good um you know i absolutely have that have had those moments and i feel like everyone has you know some point in their lives and and us as artists you know it happens all the time maybe more than most people because uh you know as an actor you get told no a lot um and you get told no for projects that you really really thought were gonna happen and that might change your life or or or uh just big opportunities that you got really close to you put your all uh and then you didn't you didn't get it and acting also is like such a weird art form because it's strangely like human so when you get that no it feels almost personal in some ways and i know it i know it's not but it does it you can't help but but feel that way so i've been there a lot um so definitely and and when you so so that day when we were filming that scene at the fig tree you know i was really unfocused i was uh struggling you know with all the different elements uh the cold and the and the business that we had him doing and the special effects thing i just was unfocused and i wasn't able to give myself you know right to to the moment that like i wanted to and had been prepping for and so you just kind of pulled me aside you talked to me and uh so i thank you because if you wouldn't have done that i don't know if we would have gotten a performance that we we see but it just really hit me because i had no idea um at the scope of of that that this moment of nathaniel was based on you and also what you said was that you know thousands hundreds of thousands people around the world that watch this moment they will all be able to compare it um to their moment and i i just had not thought about that until right then and so the moment kind of became bigger than me and uh i don't know what got it i don't know what got to me but yeah once once after that i was able to just take a breath and go sit back down and we were able to shoot the scene so thank you for that well no thank you you gave such a great gift to the show so many comments pouring in as you came on people just yelling your name austin austin love nathaniel he has such a heart um i love austin's portrayal of the fan you guys are amazing favorite episode was episode two um i austin loved your performance under the fig tree the thick and then this is uh beautiful here the fig tree was so healing to watch okay i love that scene we can all relate to feeling that way um lady vader says it impacted her greatly so um my last question just because we've got other uh actors that we're trying to get in here yeah it's just what your thoughts were once it was all done just being able to watch the season you had a little moment yourself in the in the season finale um kind of nathaniel being nathaniel saying like this is repellent and and uh that's not very friendly all those you know we portrayed nathaniel was a great shooter but were you able to we're able to step out of it a little bit and watch it just as a as a viewer and enjoy the final episode absolutely i mean i'm a fan of the show you know myself just watching uh and and i have a bunch of friends and family that love the show as well and uh i was i was gonna say with the the fig tree moment um you know at the end of the episode he meets jesus and he invites him to follow him and and he he says would you like to build you know build more more things and even in a more meaningful way and uh i mean i feel like in some ways that's what this project was for me as well because you know you get you get knocked down a lot and then i booked this and it's been one of the best things i've ever gotten to do in my life because all my life i've always wanted to act and tell stories and do stuff with talented people and and tell great stories and and so it's finally happening and you know when when we you when you know you cast us for season two to come on board uh it was like in the midst of the pandemic and so a lot of our a lot of the actors you know i don't know about allah or yoshi or luke but but for for me it was just like we had done nothing for months and months at a time and and i had no idea when i would get to act again and then it came so so in a lot of ways this role mirrors itself but but yeah absolutely i i just want to say congratulations to you as well because i could never do what you do i don't know how you do it um you are the leader of this ship and uh it's been such a pleasure to watch so thank you it means a lot brother um final final comment here i'm just going to read to you austin your role is amazing emotional and hilarious and awesome at the same time terrific work congratulations so um i love you brother i can't wait to see you in season three thank you and uh i'm gonna let you go just because we've got a few more actors i want to get in here before i before i go to dinner with my wife here so yeah thanks everyone yep talk soon brother take care all right we have got a little a unique guest here coming for you this is sean let's see if sean can come on i just sent the request to not there he is so this is the man who uh it's got to be fun playing a role where almost every time your character is discussed online it's with vitriol and anger and in fact we're considering putting together a shirt that says don't be ash so uh this is sean sharma who plays shmuel uh which is uh fun to say but uh and you know what everyone as soon as you came on sean i just want to say uh first comment love shanwell hi sean yes uh uh shmuel with fall caps uh another one says our shmuel and then of course suzanne says boo um so i just want to say um real quickly that i mentioned this to brandon potter who plays quintus that one of the great marketing and storytelling entities of all time is professional wrestling um i don't happen to be a huge fan myself but it's just they understand good versus evil and bad guys and good guys and it's it's so important to have um in an opposing force to to your hero who actually can match in some ways your hero whether it's an acting ability or whether it's in quickness intelligence passion um talk through what it's like playing a man who um who you know and you and i talk about this all the time doesn't wake up in the morning trying to be bad um he really genuinely believes in what he's doing so just talk through that real real quick about playing a character who is the antagonist is the opposing force to the hero but who at the same time is a human being with real motivations uh well you know i think it's really hard to be it's impossible to be perfect you know like it's only oh that's for that's for the lord alone like that's for that's for jesus for the rest of us we're trying to break out of our you know belief systems whenever um it's possible that we may be in in error and it's you're not going to get the information about where you could be going wrong from your friends because they don't have the same incentive to tell you that hey you're you're you may be wrong so you as hard as it is to be critiqued it's your critics that will point out to you how you can do better and it's worth looking at so when i when i look at a role like shmuel it's really fun to be and i really owe you a lot of gratitude for the the freedom to bring my uh you know interpretation to the character because the conversations we've had have been about you know not wanting it to be so easy to see shmuel as just an evil character because there's many people in our lives or we have been at our at times in our lives or in certain places we still are in certain aspects of our lives resistant to change because it goes against what we've always been told to believe so i feel like shmuel stands in for everybody who finds it really tough to break out of the belief system that they've been you know told to believe or born into and it could be right i mean schmuel believes that his system is right um and uh and sometimes our beliefs that we were born into or that we're convinced of are correct but sometimes they're not and so you know shmuel might not be right on this one right well that's the key is that shmuel's biggest flaw isn't his passion and isn't his his devotion to god's word is that he's not asking the right questions he's he's closed off he's he's decided he knows everything there is to know and he's not willing i mean his his teacher nicodemus is trying to tell him to ask more questions and he's like no i'm done and that's his biggest that's his fatal flaw um so before i let you go i'm sorry that we're kind of keeping these quick just because we've got so many other people who are coming on but um i'm just curious what you thought watching now season two and seeing shimoel's um growth as a you know as a leader clearly he's got you know lots of different um shades to his to his character but just for you as a as a fan of the show because i know you've talked about that before just watching the season two as a whole what were some of your your thoughts just as it came into it obviously on season two the world just explodes open it's just like this gigantic gorgeous scenery beautiful huge set pieces diversity of locations all these new characters all the stuff with the romans that's taken a whole new aspect with you know elijah and uh and and so it's it's been so fun to see what started as just a little capernaum like little thing and now it's like we've got this whole world at our fingertips and uh and so that's been really fun and also you know in season one i was kind of nicodemus's sidekick for most of the uh or i guess eric avari's sidekick i was basically like his his little indian buddy and now this time with season two i've got a brother i've got waseem and then he and i are able to you know go through this experience together which is i couldn't ask for a better partner in in him with yani so uh when i watched this whole season i've just been so excited about seeing uh the world expand and to let people into more of the stories of the characters of the time and and so i'm i'm happy as a clam well one of the great things we hear about the show um that makes us very proud is especially from scholars and from um people who really have studied the bible a lot or studied history a lot how much they appreciate seeing this side of the story portrayed because almost every production you've ever seen the pharisees or the religious leaders come on they're they're angry they're bitter you don't see any of the the background you don't see any of their thoughts so you have given such a nuanced um layered performance that has brought humanity to people uh that don't often times you know have humanity brought to them and uh you're gonna be around for a while we've got big plans for shimoel for the next few seasons so i can't wait to do it with you but the most important question that we got um from someone coming in was uh someone said treasure and jars of clay that's their name said can we have shmuel's skincare routine [Laughter] so uh i'm gonna let you go here but real quick is there a moisturizer you would recommend just never go outside ever [Laughter] words to live by words to live by all right um well thank you sean so much for coming on brother i love you and i can't wait to see you again thank you so much it was a pleasure yeah talk soon all right just a couple more here i'm going to bring on giovanni jordan i know you're waiting but you did a face on instagram live yesterday so i'm gonna i'm gonna have you on later uh some other time uh giovanni hey brother thaddeus is gonna come on and little james you're just gonna have to wait because jordan did his own instagram live uh yesterday yeah put them on the wait list yes so hey brother good to see you uh where are you coming in from you in michigan right now are you in l.a i'm back in michigan with the family i was in la training for a few weeks but uh i'm back with the family enjoying time with them so good yeah man good man so uh first question is just now that the season is over and you look back on it um thaddeus had a couple of moments which is what we always like to give thaddeus each season is kind of this kind of quiet sage you know comes in drops a few you know subtle truth bombs like you did in season one and this season it was uh your time with matthew especially where you just were able to kind of bring him some some tenderness that he wasn't getting yet else but just overall what were your thoughts when you saw the season finale just reflecting back on season two wow yeah it was waves of emotion just not not only because of you know what we knew went on like behind the scenes and as we were filming it uh as actors and as a family but just seeing it all put together i got chills and there was so many different emotions going on and and a couple of the other uh castmates you know they they said the same thing it's kind of like there's no going back now uh one of one of the fans actually the other day i saw them they did a split screen between the ending of season one and the ending of season two and they were going on at the same time and i just remember getting chills watching it after season one and uh it's just so beautiful i'm excited to already read the scripts and see where we go from here yeah yeah we got a lot of fun coming ahead um so just when you came on here's some of the comments we started to see uh all caps hi giovanni rad fad which i'm going to get back to that in a second uh giovanni hi hi hello love rad fab there he is noah james said dude fatty yeah i i don't even want to know what that mean that means uh jordan ross said i see how it is which yeah yeah george you did your own instagram live brother uh you can wait we'll talk to you soon um i absolutely love thaddeus such a peacekeeper um which i think is is totally true and i think we when we showed in the final episode when jesus is giving the sermon on the mount the beatitudes and he's saying um blessed are the meek and he references he kind of shows the tenderness of you and little james um which i think was really beautiful to see so real quick what is radfat where did that come from uh i feel like i remember george started saying that yeah let's wrap that from it that is it's definitely george definitely started that so when we were reading the scripts and there was the moment to where uh i believe in episode one where you know james and john are trying to take kind of control of the the group and he was reading in the script we hadn't got to the scene yet and he was oh i see george commenting on there um but he was like uh you kind of give me some sass in this episode by saying don't argue i'm like yeah yeah i should i should and then uh we just started messing around like behind the scenes like i would take his name off the trailer door and he'd be making instagram live videos being uh like rad dad you know he's the troublemaker so we uh we've had some fun with that and i'm glad it caught on with with uh some of the fans yeah i mean just so many comments just rat that rad that rat that so it's great yeah because we we looked at it was on the office michael scott how much he hated toby became like but you know like john is michael scott and you're toby and every time you're around like john just hates having thaddeus around because of that one comment where he's just like so don't argue yeah yeah yeah so uh yeah so many so many comments about how much you loved uh so i appreciate that i'm gonna let you go here in just a second just because we gotta of course my wife is waiting for me my wife is waiting for me to go to dinner and and uh this thing got a little long but i'm so glad to have you on so um just real quick do you do you have a comment just to the fans about all the the support you've received because i know you're yeah you know i'd like to say this to people you and and um jordan play characters who were intended from the beginning to be um kind of in the background a lot not because they're less important but because they're we kind of created their personalities as younger more tender more willing to let others lead but they're just going to be loyal father followers and so it takes it takes a measure of patience and humility and grace for both of you to play characters who don't get quite as much screen time but when you do it's brings such a unique vibe to everything else because everyone else is always just arguing and yelling and so because of that you guys have become fan favorites in many ways because they're like those guys are so trusting and so tender so is there something you'd like to share just with the the fan before i let you go yeah i mean i echoed it a little bit yesterday on jordan's instagram live but it's we can't i mean this doesn't happen without you without you guys and i mean just that the outreach of support and kindness that you guys show it means it means the world to us more than you know you can't even put it into words and we love you guys and yeah it's it's it's speechless yeah man well i love you brother and i can't wait to see you in season three um we're already writing in a couple you know rad that moments and uh and you there's a there's a scene you know not to give any spoilers away but that you and uh little james have that's gonna people a lot of people are gonna love so i'm looking forward to that but thank you for coming on i'm gonna let you go here and bring on a couple more but uh i always always love talking to you love you love you too my brother and uh safe travels and thank you for everything you and amanda and the crew do man you guys work so hard and we're so blessed to have you yep all right we'll talk soon see you all brother i'm gonna i'm gonna bring on uh two or three more people here um this is abe the bane what's up dallas so this is uh you had no doubt the toughest job of anybody this year coming in uh you know a as a newcomer to the cast but be you know replacing someone two to two people who uh you know well primarily kian who had played big james in the second half of season one who was he had given a beautiful performance and was a beautiful guy and had some family uh some family struggles that didn't allow him a health crisis that didn't allow him to do it but you came in and just fit in so quickly and brought such a beautiful spirit to both the cast but also to the show um can you just talk real quick about that just looking back on season two um just looking back on your performance and on the show it happened so fast you just like boom boom boom boom um what's it like just to now that it's done now that the season's over you know much like the year that we had uh it there were so many things that you just had to adjust on the fly so i think like uh the the pandemic sort of prepared me to make decisions on the fly and i was already making decisions on the fly nonetheless still a challenge but um you know as some people have seen as i've shared on my page uh i definitely had some the the most support that i could have asked for uh at no point you know and i'm a bit of a tough guy i like to pretend like you know like i'm not really uh i'm not really behind the ball and when i am sometimes uh but i had you uh you know jonathan george of course like george i think the second that i landed got a text from george was like let's run some lines and i was like amazing let's go um so there was a lot of that but more importantly i think that uh you know my ambition was to uh portray a multi-faceted james because i felt that that was already on the page so to bring you know my truth to that and and see how much i had in common with big james and how much i was gonna have to work for yeah um so when you watch the episode like the season finale was it bittersweet you know seeing it seeing it come to a conclusion like what'd you think and just as a viewer i'm always like i'm always kind of nervous as the as the filmmaker like i'm like thinking like gosh i hope the actors like the final product you know because you guys work so hard to get it there um but then i always hear from you guys you know so supportive but what did you think just watching the season finale oh man i love the season finale the ending hmm i'll give this yeah the ending was like watching what i had just gone through um because like there's you yes you're watching flashbacks from episode one episode two and i'm watching and digesting everything that i have just done as i'm watching every one of those scenes go through as as he's talking and thinking of those disciples i love the ending uh i was initially confused in the beginning of episode 8 but then i realized it was like the chaos editing and then i was like ah brilliant um so there's some great filmmaking that's happening uh that that really matches with the tremendous actors that you've chosen tremendous yeah well well i'm so glad that you're part of it and um you know you're such a beautiful addition to the show for real quick i want to share that several people are commenting on your hair what is your secret give a quick hair tip um uh diet that's it that's it diet and exercise man you don't need to put too much stuff in it just be right dallas i just want to say man thank you so much for your leadership um without getting too sappy and i know you have to get to dinner so i'm gonna do you a favor and take myself out of this but before i do i just want to say i love you very much thank you for your leadership and thank you for believing in me most people don't know but dallas searched far and wide to find me because i was kind of going through my own reality check during the pandemic um thank you uh you were there for me and i'm going to be there for you love you brother i'm going to x out now i love you too brother thank you bye-bye all right um we're going to do two more because and then uh just because i've got to get going here for in just a second but george is uh our our other sunder our little thunder as uh as uh simon calls him here there he is um hey brother where are you coming in from oh my god i might actually have to put my headphones is that working yeah i can hear you now oh perfect there we go now we're in oh well snuck up on me yeah how's it going good so all the comments coming in immediately little thunder um uh george george everyone's so excited george my aussie friend um little thunder yeah you're a little thunder now man sorry i'll take it that's okay i hey abe's a lot bigger than me yeah and uh no my i know the uh i know the order of operations so i'm happy to be little thunder to aids big thunder so so we have a very important question um in from a guy by the name of james noah james he asks are you australian with three exclamation points i love how it's it's an explanation it's not is it a question it's just are you australian yeah um uh yes yes i am australian i i am coming so that man i can confirm yeah um and then ryan swanson who uh is our head writer i'm gonna bring on here in just a second uh asked are you in a pawn shop in a pawn shop no i'm in a sushi restaurant okay so prawn shop so um because my wife is waiting to go to dinner here uh real quickly um thoughts on season two uh you you started us off man um the beginning of season two seems like yesterday but you were uh you know you started and finished the first episode of the season and uh i'm just curious just as a as an actor um what were your thoughts watching it now from a distance just as a viewer on uh the whole season i've always said so firstly it was a huge honor to to be able to do that in the first episode and i had so much fun with it um and it was it's it's not it's not an easy thing to do in that episode but it i i i found myself working in the moment so when you are working in the moment it's instinct and that that feels easier in the moment you're stressed beforehand because you're like what's gonna happen uh but the great thing about watching the show is that i watch this show as a fan so uh and then you just like my friends working and experience and i just watched the um uh i watched the finale uh literally just before i've come on i watched it this morning and it was spectacular it was incredible yeah well you are you've built this character now that people are so connected to and i'm curious um because i'm gonna i'm gonna have to bring on one more guest here in a second so i'll let you go here in just a minute but i'd love to hear um what you what you're hearing from from fans have you been you know hearing from viewers who appreciate your performance what's that what's that been like and do you have anything you'd just like to share with the viewers before i let you go here yeah it's um i've got a lot of people saying that because i think john has written you know some of the most important words in the gospel so i think a lot of people go into the show going i love john and then they they can't put a face to the name and so that's kind of been the the biggest compliment to me is that they are going into the show they they john's been their favorite and then i've been able to do that character justice you know like you said you know the character has been created and that's credit not only you know to the actor but it's also to the writers and and creators of the show so i think john has has become this and it's very similar to me we've talked about this before dallas as well like he's uh he's emotional and instinctive and passionate but passion when channeled for righteousness um is a good thing so uh that's kind of where uh john has ended up and so i i i'm not sure what we'll see from john maybe he'll still afford himself some passionate moments and emotion uh but i think he'll always find himself at the right place so that's been the feedback i've been receiving and it's i've been so honored by that that i can live up to those expectations basically yeah well we'll close with this um do do you have anything you'd like to share oh hello there oh my goodness that's tyler's like when i was meeting up with george it was like you should get on a live and i'm like i'm gonna be with george so maybe we'll say hi we got to get reunite socks that we lost i found his sock like in a in a in a dryer in weatherford and it took me seven months to get it back to him so here we are sushi and socks today it's an inside target loads of fans loads of fans know about the reuniting of the song fans have been wondering when the socks are gonna get back together so here they are so many disturbing directions i can go with that but i'm going to leave it alone um so uh tyler will tyler lean in real quick so tyler is one of the three writers of the show so it's tyler and ryan who i'm bringing on in just a second uh and and myself uh tyler while you're with george talk about writing for actors now that you know their voices and their faces uh because when we first wrote season one we didn't have faces or voices to or actors in mind um what's it like because you're tyler is the one who writes the first draft of each of the scripts and what is that like what when you're writing for george knowing he's going to be portraying john the character for example that you're that you're you're writing well i mean it just goes so much faster because like i said we know what he sounds like we know how tall he is you know about his physicality his body language or whatever but i actually so i don't forget about everybody i have like little cards of them that i put all around my desk so i can sort of like look into their eyes and be like would these words make sense in this person's mouth or whatever i also have the cards because there's so many of you now uh that i'll lose track and then somebody won't get a line or whatever so i'm always like i position everyone all over my desk like it's the scene um aquis never puts them where i put them but uh but they're at least enraged on the page so yeah it's really helpful and then just times like these like hanging out in town and just like listening to people's own stories and stuff even just kind of helps us as we sort of fuse like what those characters and and the way that they brought them to life how that feels so awesome um well thank you so much i will let both of you go here in a second but uh george you know so many comments coming in while i was talking to you about how much they appreciate your performance um and i think you bring so many that i think i know you bring so many shades to this character not only raw passion but also um leadership you know because john you know even in episode eight and is is oftentimes channeling that passion into leadership and uh so uh it's been just a joy working with you i love you and i cannot wait to bring you back for season three we've got some fun things planned ahead for john oh thank you so much no it's been an absolute pleasure and thank you so much and also to to tyler and to ryan for um for everything thanks it's a real pleasure and it's great to work with you and everybody so thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you all right brother thank you so much and i will see you soon see ya all right ryan i'm going to see if ryan is here we're gonna update on season three ryan am i in i'm in yeah hey yeah you're in i i was sure he was in a pawn shop until tyler showed up i was it was like there's no way he's not in a pawn shop right now and those bottles are valuable for sale and he was you know i was like he's moonlighting thank you for for bringing me in uh yeah we squeezed out some real talents for it and it's hard to follow up everybody looks so good everybody looks so good right i know i guess i'm gonna i'm gonna say this to you because i'm saying it about myself when you bring in that many people with extraordinary hair it's a bit and then and now it's just you and me it's like hey you look great you look really good you went from like a seven to an eight or or better uh we all kind of yeah go backwards they're like you look you look like writers you guys get a face for writing could work exactly well um all right so we've the comments are coming in as you just joined hello ryan hi ryan all caps hi ryan hi hello everybody um you know you are just amazing uh you are the perfect team um so lots of comments so uh amanda who by the way some people don't know this ryan who is the head writer on the chosen he's an executive producer uh co-writer of with tyler who you just saw tyler myself and ryan and uh ryan was actually my wife's sadie hawkins date in high school that's how far back they go and uh she's waiting for me to go to dinner so you know more than anybody um that i'm i've got someone great to go to in here in just a second yes so but we do want to um close our live stream with just a couple updates on season three so we're not gonna let's not give spoilers but as our head writer why don't you just share with the viewer what what can they expect in season three because we're working through the scripts right now what's kind of a big picture what can they expect um so big picture so we're starting um we are in the second part of the year of expansion uh the the year when the ministry takes off and i think we can we can both exp uh put some of our own experience with the show into those moments um we're imagining a lot of huge bible moments um i mean almost too too many to work around where our white space is like we're just like packed with with moments where big things happen and and you remember like when we started this white space what do you mean by that uh on the page we're always managing white space right like if a page is too dense with too many words it's it's hard to read and it takes longer than the minute one minute per page that's our guideline so if we have a 55-page script we know it's going to be just under an hour but so we want to manage white space and we're sort of doing that with our content we've got so many huge moments and we want to let each one of them breathe and that was something we really worked on on the the retreat we went on recently to get these things to the place where where our audience deserves them to be and where and where they pass muster with you so i would say that people are in for a real roller coaster ride and they're going to see some of their favorite moments uh imagined in a new way in a way that's exciting and brings people back to the bible to to read about them as they actually happened so we'll do our best to interpret those moments and in the middle give a lot of context for what these moments mean to the people they're happening to you yeah so get some super exciting stuff yep yeah we've got some you know the fans make make sure they let us know whenever they are looking for a specific story and uh and there have been a few top five stories that we hear about the most often i can tell you that at least one of them will be in season three so um so i want to close with this ryan um uh karen bettencourt 12 38 i don't think that's the year she was born but um it is the number says i love your writing and i love your story and vulnerability thank you for your realness um and what she's referring to is if you're watching right now and you haven't seen this yet um go back to episode six on youtube um it says the come and see show this is the post episode um interviews and conversations that we did and i did a conversation with ryan and liz tabish who plays mary magdalene discussing mary magdalene's storyline which is about how she relapses and goes back to alcohol as a comfort and ryan shared his personal story of alcoholism and in many ways it was a tragedy at the time that turned into great triumph and now he is bringing you so many uh incredible uh words that are changing the world and uh and it came like words that are blessing people and changing their lives uh that came out of that pain that you experienced so i would just want to say that to you as as a brother to you to say i love you and thank you for being vulnerable but also for going through what you went through and coming out of it uh because you coming out of that is blessing the world oh man thank you so much i i did nothing to deserve any of this except shove vodka down my face and i you know i i surrendered and uh god put us in touch and uh yeah i i just i i every day is a blessing uh every day i'm lucky to be here and i just i can't wait to keep uh keep going with with season three stuff it's gonna be so exciting i love seeing our cast today thank you for setting this up man and thank you for your leadership always of course um yeah and how many years sober are you now uh 10 years uh god willing uh august will we'll bring 11. so it will be the um awesome yeah awesome um someone said make sure you guys keep up the funny moments so those will continue in season three we always want to work that in um but just real quick before i let you go here just comments uh the storytelling has been incredible such a unique viewpoint thank you so much to everyone all you guys are doing such amazing writing someone says can you please give a shout out to maggie so hello maggie um thank you for sharing so much of yourself personally on the chat with dallas and liz after episode six um awesome that's perfect great writing so anyway you're you're very loved and appreciated by the fans and thank you so much brother it's reciprocated thank you thank you man go go say hi to amanda for me i will i'm gonna go be with my wife because we're moving to texas tomorrow and we've got to get uh get out of here but uh i will talk to you soon brother love you so much okay love you too bye-bye bye-bye thank you to the viewer thank you for being here and this is the awkward spot where ryan tries to leave unlock he's going to shut the phone off completely i think there's a there you go um oh he's still there no i'm just seeing his forehead um either way uh thank you so much for joining me tonight and uh we'll post this for good and you can go back and check out all the other interviews but uh i love you and keep up the prayers um we need them we're moving to texas tomorrow and we're exhausted and that requires so much um just so much energy and stress but uh we're making we're trying to get our way through it so thank you so much and i will talk to you tomorrow remember it is not your job to feed the five thousand it is only to provide the loads and fish oh right just left right uh god bless you bye-bye you know what i'm gonna do this real quick surprise if you stuck around oh wait are we still there i was literally logging off did i miss it i'm literally logging off amanda is waiting so i'm going to take like 45 seconds with you um uh but i was literally about to log off when i saw your video request and i thought all right we'll give the fans a quick surprise say hello i was just shooting i couldn't get here any sooner so hello everybody hello dallas good to see you man thank you brother um so real quick before we go hi aspen yes so many people coming on uh commenting we've got a whole other hour to do yes um so real quickly because i do have to go but uh can you just can you just share with the viewer uh your thoughts on season two and and your thoughts and what the fans how the fans express themselves to you and and how how your work is blessing them it has been uh it has been unfathomable the the response the the love the support um and uh i'm just so uh blessed to be a part of this whole journey i think i think the beginning and the end of season two and then everything in between just really uh presented such a strong and powerful season and look into jesus's ministry and the very very intriguing storylines of all these new characters these these uh characters that we've just met along the way this season and i i can't wait to see where where it all goes can't wait to get those scripts get those scripts well um about 90 of the comments have been the following who is your favorite director to work with um so i just wanted to ask that real quick i think this is trying to i didn't catch that last phoebe hello all right man it was just it was a it was a dream man you um you really made it um a place to feel at home on set so and i'm sure every cast member that got to chat with you today expressed the same but uh you know it's it's uh it's a very unique experience in so many ways and um you're at the you're at the um the head of the head of the the wagon train there so so thank you for for everything thank you for joining me i love you so i love you so much and i'll close with this comment from cynthia bjork who says you've really helped me deepen my relationship with jesus there's nothing more beautiful we can hear than that so i think that's a good thing to close on thank you well thanks for taking my video request for a couple minutes and uh glad to at least say hello and best of luck to uh on the move and love to amanda and the kids and we'll see you soon all right see you soon brother bye guys bye everybody and with that we'll go remember it's not your job to feed the five thousand only provide the loaves and fish and we with that we will say goodbye bye

Channel: The Chosen

Views: 451,201

Keywords: the chosen, the chosen tv series, bingeJesus, GetUsedtoDifferent, Faith-based, Bible show, Bible study, Christianity, church, Jesus show, what to watch, tv show, filmmaking

Id: de2uVUpiNxY

Length: 101min 1sec (6061 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 12 2021