The cast of The Chosen is trading first-century sandals for survival gear.
Prime Video has released the first trailer for The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls, a new six-episode series that follows The Chosen creator Dallas Jenkins and cast members Jonathan Roumie, Elizabeth Tabish, Paras Patel, Noah James and Luke Dimyan as they join the famed adventurer on a series of wilderness expeditions. The show premieres Aug. 9.
The trailer teases plenty of high-adrenaline moments, from skydiving and zip-lining over canyons to eating scorpions. But according to Grylls, the real goal wasn’t simply to see whether the cast could survive the outdoors.
When RELEVANT spoke with Grylls earlier this year, he said he was drawn to the project because he sees The Chosen as part of the same mission he’s pursued throughout his career: helping people encounter the real Jesus.
“We’re all doing the same thing, trying to shine a light around the world and show the real Jesus,” he said. “We all do it through different mediums.”
Grylls said one of the biggest reasons he wanted to make the series was to introduce audiences to the people behind characters millions have come to know through The Chosen.
“People don’t really get to know them,” he said. “The Chosen in the Wild was a really fun show because you get to know the actors that so many hundreds of millions of people have grown to love.”
That was especially true for Roumie, whose portrayal of Jesus has made him one of the most recognizable faces in Christian entertainment.
“Getting to know the real guy behind it, he’s such a gentle, sweet man,” Grylls said. “Living with that title of playing Jesus has been tough in so many ways for him, but he’s a very humble, honest, great guy.”
The series was filmed across some of America’s most rugged landscapes, including Utah’s Canyonlands and Castle Valley, the Colorado River, the Great Basin Desert, the Ausable River and New York’s Adirondacks. Alongside the survival challenges, Grylls leads conversations about faith, fear and the experiences that have shaped each guest.
For Grylls, that’s what made the project different from his usual adventures.
“They’re very different shows than we’ve done before,” he told RELEVANT. “But it all ties together beautifully. Getting to know these people beyond the roles they play was really special.”
The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls premieres Aug. 9 on Prime Video.
