Derral Eves, one of two Latter-day Saint executive producers of the hit show The Chosen, knows the show’s creator, Dallas Jenkins, has received pushback for choosing to work with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, Eves became emotional when talking about that opposition in a recent podcast interview.
“But this is what I love about Dallas,” Eves said. “He was able to see my heart and he’s been the biggest defender of me, and my family, and my faith background. And he’s literally had to endure stuff that no one should endure because of our relationship. Honestly, I’ll always been eternally indebted to him because of how he has defended me and my beliefs. And on the flipside, he’ll say other things of how we’ve helped him and it’s just been [a] very synergistic project.”
In the interview, Greg and Jill Johnson, who founded Standing Together, a ministry which seeks to advance spiritual unity and transformation in the state of Utah, talked with Eves as well as Latter-day Saint Brad Pelo about their experiences working on The Chosen. Greg specifically asked Eves and Pelo whether they believe The Chosen is adding “extrabiblical material that is adding to or taking from the Bible.”
“I do believe the way the writers approach it … is very thoughtful,” Eves said. He gave an example from the series of when Peter was wary of Matthew for being a Roman tax collector, illustrating how the show develops backstory. At the same time, Eves used this example to show that The Chosen explores why certain details were recorded in holy scripture. He added that the show has historical and biblical consultants as well as representatives from different religions who aid the writers.
“The Bible is the Bible,” Eves said. “This is a TV show about the plausible situations of humans and how they interact with people and what happens to them when they are redeemed.”
Eves revealed that when he initially read the first episode’s script, he said, “Dallas, this is dark. You can’t start this show off this dark.”
He recalls Dallas saying, “No, Derral, you have to understand. This is the show. It’s about transformation. It’s about we’re all flawed and discovering that we can be changed and the only thing that’s different in between is Him.”
In the interview, Pelo also recalls the fascinating story of how he came to be involved with The Chosen and how the show’s second season came to be filmed on the Church’s set in Goshen, Utah.
Watch the entire interview here.