This is it.
Finally.
No, for reals. I think.
I thought I said goodbye filming my last day on-camera in the
@thechosentv.
Days later, I thought I said farewell again, as we wrapped the entire series itself on our sound stage, despite knowing that marketing days were still ahead.
But this Sunday, it was evident in my bones that not only had I spoken my last speech… not only had we filmed our last shot… but this would be my final day on the hallowed ground that connected me to the television series that changed my life, for what may be the rest of my life (but only God really knows).
This moment I share with you here is part of the culmination of not only the last eight years playing the Savior of the world, but the last twelve years playing Him as part of my creative collaboration with the show’s visionary creator, Dallas Jenkins.
To have the divine blessing of working on a show for eight years, and then to be gifted this cherry on top — walking onto set as Christ, to be captured on film by one of the great masters of the photographic arts, Annie Leibovitz, while listening to John Debney’s haunting score fill the spaces of the set — was at once transcendent and otherworldly.
I was, for a moment, completely speechless.
Seems to be a theme for me this past month.
I cannot stress to you the profound beauty and brilliance of the compositions that Annie, her team, and our cast and team have had the opportunity to create together.
A divine collaboration, if ever there was one. And I cannot wait for you to see the fruit of our intense labor, beginning with Season 6 (on
@primevideo Nov 15) and continuing through the release of the final images from these shoots.
Our week creating these stills was a reality that my castmates and I could scarcely wrap our minds around.
God, in His goodness, is profoundly mysterious and deliberately sweet. The thank-you’s He’s given us in these final moments of the most important series of our lives are beyond anything any of us could have even imagined.
I do hope you’ll join us this season as we enter into the end of this story… which ultimately is the beginning of another.
I will write more as I am able. I just need a moment in between the chaos to catch my breath. Love and Blessings, - JR 🙏🏽♥️✝️