‘The Chosen’ Cast Members Discuss the ‘Most Painful Scene to Date’

One emotional scene of “The Chosen” took a full six days to shoot—and even longer to edit. Creator and director Dallas Jenkins sat down with Yasmine Al-Bustami (Ramah) and Joey Vahedi (Thomas) to discuss the scene executives describe as “such a complex and tragic moment.”

Spoiler Alert: This article contains details from Season 4, Episode 3, of “The Chosen.”

Behind the Scenes of a ‘Complex and Tragic’ Scene of ‘The Chosen’

After unavoidable delays, more than 200 million people around the world are now watching Season 4 of “The Chosen.” The series has broken many records of crowdfunding as well as viewership in just a short amount of time. The series is expected to have a full seven seasons.

While “The Chosen” is based on the Bible, screenwriters have taken some fictional liberties to fill in some conversational gaps and to create a bit more real-life accounts of the biblical characters. In fact, they created characters, like Ramah, to help tell the story of those who interacted with Jesus.

Ramah is said to fill two roles in “The Chosen.” She is one of the unnamed female disciples of Jesus and unnamed potential wives of the Apostles. In “The Chosen,” Ramah is a friend and romantic interest of one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas. But the story of Thomas and Ramah took a sudden turn.

Jenkins, Al-Bustami (Ramah) and Joey Vahedi (Thomas) sat down to debrief the process of the scene and how moving the last few years have been for each of them.

“I filmed the scene for six days and edited it for dozens of days because it’s such a complicated scene,” recalled Jenkins. “Finally watching it all the way through with the music, I was breathless.”

In Season 4, Episode 3, Ramah was stabbed by a Roman soldier while standing up for Thomas. She died soon after.

“It was an honorable way to go,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins quoted Ramah’s last words, “Stay with him, no matter what,” meaning Thomas was to remain committed to Jesus. The Gospels provide actual accounts of Thomas’ struggle with doubt. It is plausible that an incident or conversation like this happened in Thomas’ life, encouraging his budding and doubting faith.

Jenkins asked the actors if they discussed beforehand how to portray the tragic scene.

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