The wait is over! The Chosen Season 4 is now streaming.
We caught up with our favorite disciple (shhh! don’t tell anyone) Matthew, played by Paras Patel. We got to spend time with him last summer in Texas for the set visit and finally a whole year later we re-connect again, this time via zoom since he’s now filming Season 5 in Utah. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
There is so much to talk about in this season so we tackled grief, believing in one another, big Biblical moments and more. Plus Paras will be part of the Season 4 watch party after Episode 2: Confessions. If you want to join in on that conversation click here and add it to your calendar for Thursday, June 6.
Until then enjoy our interview together.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: So great to see you. Thank you for taking the time out of the day. I mean, I know I’ve been seeing you’ve been sharing about season five production underway, so where are we chatting from? Looks like a cool bunker from under the Sea of Galilee.
Paras Patel: You’re close, but we’re in Utah. We’re in Utah, resting from a fun season five shoot, that’s been so great season. But yeah, I’m in Utah, wrapping up my shooting schedule here.
FE: Well, we won’t get too ahead of ourselves because we want to talk about season four. Last summer I got the opportunity to be on set with you guys in Texas, which was super fun. So to be able to see that roll out globally and now streaming, talk to me a little bit about getting to see the success of that season.
PP: With The Chosen, I always like to say expect the unexpected because it keeps blowing my mind. If you would’ve told me five years when we started the show, when we didn’t have enough funds to finish our first full season immediately to be that in five years we would be releasing globally in London or I’d be in Brazil welcoming our audiences to the show and just seeing the footprint it’s having around the world, I would’ve said, pinch me or punch me. I don’t believe you. It’s been, I don’t know. I don’t have the words yet. Maybe I’ll get the words once we finish filming season seven, but it’s just been an amazing experience because we’re seeing the impact that the show is having visiting these countries to premiere season four has really shown on the ground there, like I said, how impactful the show has been, how much it’s spreading, how much it means to the people there, and how much they are finding their purpose through the show.
FE: I couldn’t agree with you more, and all the seasons are special, but one of the things that’s special about season four is that we get to see some of those kind of significant biblical events play out on screens, maybe share what it was like from the filming of one of those.
PP: It’s always an interesting experience filming one of those big scenes from scripture because all of us have this energy of, okay, we can’t mess this up. We want to get this right. And that also happens with our dialogue. We have to stick word for word. We can’t just ad-lib our way through it, but it’s always fun because our casting crew, we are a family and we’re so strong, we lean onto each other when things are hard and we anchor each other when things are also hard. But there’s a support system. So whenever we do those big scenes and those big moments from scripture, it’s like we all look forward to it because we know that it’s going to end up being epic on camera, but we get to spend more time and support each other and uplift one another throughout the scenes. So those are all special moments when we get to do those big, big moments. And there’s some happening in a season I’m not talking about yet, because season four it is, but season five is just as epic.
FE: It’s no secret, you and I have chatted before that Matthew is my favorite disciple. You do such a great job embodying him, and I love the humanity that we’re able to see through him and some of the creative licensing that’s been taken within that, but then also that makes it so applicable to so many people. And sometimes I’m curious, do you think your background in finance or any of that kind of played into casting of how you got this?
PP: I had to take a math test before I auditioned for Matthew [Laughter] No. But isn’t it weird to see in life how certain things I believe in life? Everything is meant to be an experience in a lesson. So it’s interesting that I studied finance and then I always knew I wanted to be an actor, but I just put myself through that just to make my parents happy. But it’s weird that that was the stepping stone because who knew years from now be portraying one of the most famous historical scribes who is also well versed with numbers. So it’s kind of interesting to think of maybe this was already pre-planned for me.
FE: Those are those fun coincidences or divine interventions.
PP: There we go. And I love things like that. I love things like that. I do believe in that.
FE: On the acting side, you do do such a great job with all those nuances. I feel like you can say so much without even using dialogue, which is so important, especially in a biblical show. Talk to me about how you create those moments for yourself. Do you go in and say, here’s all the non-verbals that I’m going to do to get this X point across, or have you just spent so much time in the character now that you’re in season four that comes naturally? What does that process look like?
PP: It definitely comes natural to me now, having been in this for five years, but first and foremost, in order for me to be my most authentic self as Matthew, I always bring Paris into it. I relate so much to Matthew and his journey. I know what it feels like to feel isolated, to not be doing what you want to do, to not feeling seen. The list is endless, but I use a lot of myself in that. I pour my heart into the character, but also I’m surrounded by a team of people from Dallas, our director showrunner to our amazing hair and makeup team and our wardrobe team. They all bring Matthew to life. They all bring me these elements that make me into Matthew, and it’s so easy for me to slip into that groove and mindset, and it’s just been this synergy that really works well. It’s kind of magical.
FE: You mentioned some of those themes, the idea of being rejected or not being included, or not even understanding your own worth until somebody else can see that inside you and bring that out. I think everybody at any age of their life and probably at multiple ages in their life have felt that. Can you recall maybe just one instance where somebody believed in you more than you even saw in yourself and it turned into something fantastic?
PP: It’s kind of like how Matthew was called. He was kind of activated behind the tax booth. Someone finally saw him and shined a light straight into his heart and made him realize that he has worth for me, I’m going to bring it back to the show because of the entertainment industry and how tough it is to even get a part. There’s a lot of trust and belief in the actor that they will do a good job. And so I would say it’s Amanda Jenkins, Dallas’s wife and partner in this series that really advocated for me in choosing me to be Matthew. Of course, Dallas was happy for that too, but I would say her trust and belief in me that I would do a good job at the time, I didn’t even know I would be able to meant a lot to me, and that’s something I’m never going to forget because it’s, look what’s happened from that. So I’m honored. Yeah,
FE: As any year, our country continues to get more interesting and more interesting, the idea that we can see kind of grief on screen, maybe talk to me about some of those heavier themes that we’re going to see, but are able to maybe help us walk through things in our own lives.
PP: That’s what I love about our show because it’s kind of a comfort food in a way. It shows you things that are hard that we’ve all probably been through in our life, but it’s showing you the other side of that and what it looks like with Matthew’s journey. Even just apologizing and owning up to his mistakes. Some of us are a bit hardheaded and wouldn’t do that, and you see Matthew really struggle to do that. He doesn’t want to. But then on the other side of it, you get forgiveness and you gain another family member in that way of the brotherhood. And I think it’s a beautiful lead by example moment of how we should be as people. Themes like grief, it’s never easy for anybody. And so when you see that in this show season after season of what the disciples in their personal lives may have gone through, it’s very plausible.
You’re seeing how people are uplifted through that and how they are getting by through that, and it’s really offering comfort in many ways. I’ve seen messages from people who have talked about the themes that have happened in our show and that it’s really helped them feel it’s given them a peace of mind and helped them feel more at ease in dealing with something as tough as grief, because sometimes we don’t have the answers to everything and we are searching for it. And I think the show exemplifies what it looks like if you just give it to God.
FE: From grief to joy. It’s been such a joy talking to you always. Thank you so much for taking the time today, and I can’t wait for audiences to have the opportunity to stream this in their homes and interact with it in a different way than when they got the opportunity to see it in the theater too. Because I know sometimes the way you consume changes the way you view it
PP: With the show. Every time you watch it, you get something different. I watch episodes at least once or twice because the first time I’m judging my own performance the second time I’m watching it for the story and the cinematography. But what’s also great now that it’s out in streaming is that the after shows, the after shows are so fun because you get into our minds about what we’re thinking of when those big key moments are happening. So they’re very fun to kind of let the audience in on that and know what we are thinking as the actors.
FE: Nice. Well, until I see you in person again, you’ll be welcome in my home through the screen, and our family will continue enjoying your performances.
PP: Oh, it’s a pleasure, KellI, as always, thank you so much and hopefully see you soon.
