Dallas Jenkins Quote BankThe creator of The Chosen in his own words

I know many people are writing about The Chosen at the moment and so naturally things its showrunner / writer / director Dallas Jenkins says are likely to be of interest. As far as I'm aware at the moment there is nowhere else where a bunch of his most significant quotations have been gathered together. So this is an effort to do just that in the hope it will be a growing resource for future writers.

Part of the problem, though, is that he says so much. Compared to the words we have from people like Nicholas Ray or George Stevens there is an incredible amount to wade through. Even compared to Cecil B. DeMille's autobiography and Pier Paolo Pasolini's interviews with Oswald Stack there is a mountain of material, and while at time there are clearly agreed promotional , repeated lines, often the things he said are much more spontaneous and frank.

If you have a quotation I've not included, please let me know so I can add it to the list. You can comment below or email me and I'll include it. Let me know if you want a "Submitted by..." credit (I'll use provided names if you comment). If at all possible please provide some kind of source. I will include others, but it helps those who might wish to cite Dallas in more formal publications.

The Quotes

"This show is so that you see Jesus through the eyes of those who actually met him,sop you can be changed and impacted in the way that they were".
- "I'm firing back about one criticism" Official 'The Chosen' YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpA5V32PpJs {5m55s}

"On day one of writing, six years ago, when I was in my basement, we put up a word on the wall on a big white piece of paper and it just said "Authentic". Everything that we did we wanted to be as authentic as possible and that starts with the fact that this is a Jewish show about a Jewish Jesus. One of the reasons why we wrote "authentic" was because we felt that was one of the things that was lacking in a lot of other Jesus movies and mini series that we'd seen. Not all of them, but occasionally the portrayal of Jesus reflected the background of whoever was making it, and so if it was Europeans making it it was a European Jesus. If it was British people or if it was American people it was a British or American Jesus. Obviously Mel Gibson, as a Catholic, it felt like a Catholic portrayal of the story, which is perfectly fine. Our portrayal, we just wanted to get rid of all of those things that sometimes get in between an authentic look at who Jesus was and that means first and foremost we're going to really lean into the Jewishness of the story: the prayers, the synagogues, the temple. All those things were really important to us."
- "I wrote one word on the wall when we first started writing The Chosen…". Video posted to Dallas Jenkins' Facebook feed. 6 Sept. 2025.
http://facebook.com/watch/?v=1573369834041360

"I don't do the show just to be a reenactment of Bible verses. Anyone can do that, and many have. We glean very little extra from doing that, other than simply experiencing Bible verses in a different way than reading them, like we do when we sing a Bible verse as a song or hear it read to us. And there's nothing wrong with that. The Bible was perfect and beautiful and complete before The Chosen came along, and it still is.

But when we write songs, books, or TV shows inspired by the Bible, hopefully we can wrestle with and explore the mysteries and questions and beautiful complications the Bible introduces. Hopefully we, along with the viewer, can go beyond just a reading or re-enactment and discover a profound beauty and depth that Art can contribute to. Never as a replacement for the text, but as a supplement to or outpouring from it.

My love of and understanding of Scripture inspires The Chosen, and The Chosen then (hopefully) inspires further love of and understanding of Scripture."
- Dallas Jenkins' Official Facebook page. 7 May 2025. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1300132398345636&id=100050466640733

"I believe that everything we need to know about Jesus is contained in one book and that is the Bible".
- Reel on Dallas Jenkins' Official Facebook page. 8 July 2025. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1262966132148918?fs=e&fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

"We implied nothing other than that in our show, Mary Magdalene wrote a psalm"
- Facebook comment from Official Dallas Jenkins channel on post in 'The Chosen' Fan Club Facebook post. 11 May 2025.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thechosenfans/posts/1600783493951806/ 

Submitted by Others

"No, Mary Magdalene did not write scripture, but just like the vast majority of our show there is lots of content that isn't directly from scripture, but we thought it was a very interesting idea that Mary would have written down a lot of things...I'm sure multiple disciples and followers wrote down notes. We thought it was really cool if she wrote her own psalm, her own act of worship, her own act of wrestling with what she had experienced and seen. We thought it was a really interesting idea"  
- Season 4, Episode 7 Livestream, Renee's Question. 'The Chosen' App. (01:55:42) [Submitted by Olivia Adel Attya]

(Responding to interviewer's comment...) "Which then puts me in a dangerous spot when I'm making a show about Jesus where 95% of the content isn't from the Bible....I use the Bible as the first and foremost source of truth for the show, but if I even have someone say hello to each other in the show that's not from scripture."
- "A Candid Conversation with Dallas Jenkins, Director of 'The Chosen'" Interview with Melissa Dougherty on her YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/__-Yyq1FPQI?si=x70wf9xe2Pphe1ux&t=1470. {24:30} [Submitted by Matt Sears]

"The Bible hasn't changed since The Chosen." (Context was around criticism of his artistic license).
- Thought to be from an interview with Brandon Snipe, The Chosen Sleuth.[Submitted by Lynette Nelson Hupfer]

"Here we play” (his on-set version of "action") 
- "Directing 'The Chosen': A day on set with Dallas Jenkins". Official YouTube channel for 'The Chosen'. 30 May 2020. https://youtu.be/39oTzaxnlIo {6m40s} . [Submitted by Allison Lewis].

"I believe it is important to watch The Chosen as though the Bible didn't exist."
- Comment on 'The Chosen' Season 4: Episodes 1-3 DISCUSSION. Now Let's Be Honest YouTube channel. 3 Feb 2024
https://www.youtube.com/live/Lr9q4PqBBU0?lc=UgwiVwuAzOBvGI4AN2x4AaABAg.A-LraPnNGfeA-N54OT4FWp. [Submitted by Shane Cox].

"In several years, this show, The Chosen is going to be what many people consider the definitive portrayal of my people and I’m not going to let you screw it up.”
- "‘The Chosen’ creator in Utah: What Latter-day Saints asked Dallas Jenkins about his popular show. Trent Toone in Deseret News. 3 March 2022.
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/3/3/22957372/the-chosen-creator-dallas-jenkins-utah-state-university-dialogue-jesus-christ-faith-religion/. [Submitted by Shane Cox].

"That said, I do think it'd be a great troll for me to have Jesus on the cross and look down and wink at Joseph Smith walking by."
- Comment from Dallas Jenkins' Facebook account on his own post "Most common question after Episode 3...". 26th Dec 2022.
https://www.facebook.com/DallasJenkinsOfficial/posts/pfbid09mmuVfbGm4mSa5Jo1KsQjLvWaBKjmYtySGEPxyyEZH71c9y3w5HRfSVhS5SiefhRl
Later cited by Aleah Ingram in "'The Chosen' Creator References Book of Mormon in Online Joke". LDS Daily. 29 Dec 2022.
https://www.ldsdaily.com/entertainment/the-chosen-creator-references-book-of-mormon-in-online-joke/
[Submitted by Shane Cox].