Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Chosen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 11, 2023

VidAngel Studios has released a wonderful special edition for the first season of the hit TV show 'The Chosen." The previous Season One release was a two-disc set that contained very few extras. This set, on the other hand, is spread across six discs and includes a significant number of bonuses, including biblical discussion roundtables, audio commentaries, music-only audio tracks, trivia tracks, and a plethora of featurettes. It also ships in fold-open DigiPak packaging inside a slip box. Note that there is also a season two special edition release, but there is, at time of writing, no such special edition for season three.

For a full season one review, please click here.

The Chosen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beyond the packaging and the extras, one of the biggest questions fans might have is this: does it look any different? With the episodes spread out over four discs rather than two, are there any discernible differences? To be sure, there are some subtle changes. First, the colors are by and large identical from the sampling of stills, shots, and scenes I compared from various places throughout the season. On the other hand, the new image might be slightly sharper with a slightly enhanced filmic appearance. No doubt, the images are nearly identical, but there's just enough of a boost to spot the slight difference. It's not enough to make a purchase worthwhile if video is the only concern, so consider the ever so slight gain to be a bonus rather than a highlight of this set. In essence, the original review, as linked here, applies, understanding that there appears to be that very mild gain to overall textural accuracy and sharpness.

The Chosen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This appears to be the same Dolby Digital 5.1 lossless soundtrack from the original release. Please click here for full coverage.

The Chosen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This six-disc special edition of The Chosen's first season contains episodes and corresponding extras on discs 1-4. Discs 5 and 6 are dedicated to supplemental content. See below for a few brief words on the packaging.  

Disc One:

• Audio Commentaries: Traditional overlay audio commentaries. For "I Have Called You By Name:" Director/Co-Writer Dallas Jenkins & Co-Writers Ryan Swanson & Tyler Thompson. For "Shabbat:" Director/Co-Writer Dallas Jenkins & Co-Writers Ryan Swanson & Tyler Thompson.
• Insight Tracks: This is a text-based commentary track that offers intensive historical, cultural, biographical, biblical, and verbal details that enrichen one's understanding of the on-screen content, story, and dialogue. For "I Have Called You By Name" and "Shabbat."
• Sounds of the Story: The episodes are presented with musical score only in the Dolby Digital 2.0 format. Included for "I Have Called You By Name" and "Shabbat."

Disc Two:

• Audio Commentary: Traditional overlay audio commentaries. For "Jesus Loves the Little Children:" Director/Co-Writer Dallas Jenkins & Actor Jonathan Roumie.
• Insight Tracks: This is a text-based commentary track that offers intensive historical, cultural, biographical, biblical, and verbal details that enrichen one's understanding of the on-screen content, story, and dialogue. For "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "The Rock on Which It Is Built."
• Sounds of the Story: The episodes are presented with musical score only in the Dolby Digital 2.0 format. Included for "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "The Rock on Which It Is Built."

Disc Three:

• Insight Tracks: This is a text-based commentary track that offers intensive historical, cultural, biographical, biblical, and verbal details that enrichen one's understanding of the on-screen content, story, and dialogue. For "The Wedding Gift" and "Indescribable Passion."
• Sounds of the Story: The episodes are presented with musical score only in the Dolby Digital 2.0 format. Included for "The Wedding Gift" and "Indescribable Passion."

Disc Four:

• Audio Commentary: Traditional overlay audio commentaries. For "I Am He:" Director/Co-Writer Dallas Jenkins.
• Insight Tracks: This is a text-based commentary track that offers intensive historical, cultural, biographical, biblical, and verbal details that enrichen one's understanding of the on-screen content, story, and dialogue. For "Invitations" and "I Am He."
• Sounds of the Story: The episodes are presented with musical score only in the Dolby Digital 2.0 format. Included for "Invitations" and "I Am He."

Disc Five:

• Biblical Roundtables (1080p): For my money, this is the heart of what makes this set so great. Here are eight discussions that run anywhere from 20 minutes to 41 minutes featuring Dallas Jenkins joined by the show's biblical consultants: Father David Guffey (Catholic perspective), Rabbi Jason Sobel (Jewish perspective) and Dr. Doug Huffman (Evangelical perspective). They break down a number of biblical, historical, cultural, political, and theological events from the series and explore their veracity and authenticity from their own unique understanding. Included are Episode 1 (41:37), Episode 2 (24:03), Episode 3 (26:12), Episode 4 (31:54), Episode 5 (34:49), Episode 6 (29:55), Episode 7 (19:54), and Episode 8 (31:14). Note that Rabbi Sobel is not included in the pieces for episodes 5-8.
• Actor Roundtable (1080p, 53:00): Jenkins is joined by George Xanthis (John), Giavani Cairo (Thaddeus), Noah James (Andrew), Paras Patel (Matthew), Kian Kavousi (Big John), and Nick Shakoour (Zebedee). They discuss life on the set, playing iconic roles, fan response, and much more.
• A New Thing (1080p, 51:22): Jenkins is joined by Derral Eves, Jeffrey Harmon, and Neal Harmon to discuss the show's history and production in great and compelling detail.

Disc Six:

• The Story Behind The Chosen (1080p, 8:14): Jenkins, Jeffrey Harmon, Neal Harmon, and Derral Eves discuss project origins, the original pilot episode, the show's impact, and more.
• More Behind the Scenes (1080p, 12:51): Raw on-set footage interviewing some of the tertiary actors, shooting various scenes, content that is not in the Bible, stunt work, shooting locales, life and work on the set, what specific roles on the set work was done to accomplish, and more.
• Bonus Videos (1080p): A dozen additional featurettes that explore various aspects of the shoot, the production, and the story.
  
  
  • What God Told Me About My Failure (10:55): Dallas Jenkins discusses how the failure of The Resurrection of Gavin Stone opened the door for him to work on The Chosen.
  • Visiting the Holy Land (12:27): Jenkins and Rabbi Jason Sobel visit the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, Capernaum, and the Sea of Galilee.
  • Writing The Chosen (7:20): As the title suggests, this piece looks at the process of writing a show based on the Bible.
  • Behind the Groundbreaking Music (11:25): A look at the score, how it supports the narrative, and the composers who crafted it.
  • The Miracle of the Miracle of the Fish (9:01): The challenges, and providence, and behind the making of one of the show's key visual effects.
  • You Prayed. This Happened! (6:16): A look at season two sets.
  • Cello Girl (9:18): Kaelyn Reese, who is "on the spectrum," discusses how the show inspired her, why the Matthew character appealed to her, and her musical contributions to the show.
  • Can You Trust The Chosen (10:47): Jenkins discusses the show's approach to scripture and faith, and whether it is trustworthy as a faithful gospel translation.
  • Casting of The Chosen (11:16): Looking at rehearsal footage and cast interviews.
  • Bringing John 3:16 to The Chosen (5:46): Rehearsal and final footage of the famous scene between Jesus and Nicodemus.
  • 40 Days with Jesus (4:13): Exploring a 40-day devotional that is tied to the show.
  • Wrapping Season 1 (12:43): A behind-the-scenes look at some of the final on-set work as the season come to an end.
• Cast Biographies & Featurettes (1080p): A look at some of the key season one cast and the actors who portrayed them. These are text based; the text is read aloud. A photo of the actor in character appears on screen as well. Included are Erick Avari/Nicodemus, Paras Patel/Matthew, Jonathan Roumie/Jesus, Shahar Isaac/Simon Peter, Noah James/Andrew, and Elizabeth Tabish/Mary Magdalene/Lilith.
• Slide Shows (1080p): An extensive collection of still photos. Included are On the Set of Season 1 parts 1-3, which include 99 photos each; Art, Costumes, and Set Designs (99 photos); and Script Pages for all eight episodes.
• Season 1 Trailers (1080p): Included are Teaser Trailer (1:03), Episode 1-4 Trailer (1:25), "Trouble" Trailer (2:00), and "Not Too Shabby" Trailer (1:05).

The outer slip box measures approximately 6.75" high, 5.5" wide, and 1.75" deep. Of course, the folded and closed DigiPak inside shares very similar measurements. The box exterior is predominately white. The front image depicts the swirling gray fish with a dozen that are teal in color, and the show's title in teal, center. A thin gold banner with the text "Season One 6-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray' is included at the top. The rear of the box offers a blurb, special features listings, a billing block, tech specs, and more. The spine is white with a few more fish, the number "1" in teal in the bottom third area, and VidAngel and Blu-ray logos at the bottom.

The DigiPak shares the same front and rear content as the outer box when closed. It opens to a sprawling 3+ feet in length. VidAngel has crammed a lot of content on the exterior (non disc) side of this package, so the easiest way to break it down is to simply open it up and explore what's on each panel, left to right, at least the predominant contents on each panel. The leftmost panel offers episode listings, episode summaries, and bonus features on discs 1-4. Panel 2 contains a photo and facsimile signature of Creator Dallas Jenkins as well as a timeline and text that focuses on filming, releases, the app, and the show's global reach. Panels 3 and 4 are the front and back, and are separated by the spine. Panel 5 offers a "Welcome to The Chosen!" three paragraph greeting and is another section of the timeline that looks at Jenkins' box office failure, VidAngel's interest in the original short film on which The Chosen is based, and the fundraising campaign. Note that the timelines match up in order when the DigiPak is first opened. The final panel contains bonus feature listings for discs 5 and 6 and also includes four color character photos.

The interior panels are a stark contrast to the outer panels. Rather than white, the backgrounds are black and the discs are black-and-white, favoring the former.

The Chosen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Simply put, this is a must-own for any fan of The Chosen. The wealth and richness of bonus content is extraordinary, and the roundtables are where the set truly shines. It will take days to dig through all of the content in this set, and it comes easily, and highly, recommended for serious fans of the show.