The fifth season of “The Chosen” is now available in 50 languages — a major stride in the biblical drama’s goal to reach 1 billion viewers worldwide.
For the feat, “The Chosen” Season 5 has been officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most-translated season of a streaming series in history.
The fifth season is available in 36 dubbed languages and 50 subbed languages on “The Chosen” app. A portion of these translations will be available on Prime Video as well.
Some of the 50 subbed languages for Season 5 (available in the app) include Albanian, Afrikaans, Armenian, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Swedish and Thai.
Making it happen took “Herculean effort,” said Mike Kennedy, vice president of marketing at The Come and See Foundation, an organization which helps fund and translate “The Chosen.”
“It’s always nice to celebrate these milestones when you’re on a journey to a pretty big God-sized vision,” Kennedy said. “But our work is really beginning.”
The ultimate goal is to translate the series into 600 languages, which will make the series accessible to 95% of the world’s population.
So far, the series as a whole is available in 86 subbed languages and 58 dubbed languages on “The Chosen” app.
“For Come and See, our mission is to make the authentic Jesus accessible to everyone around the world through ‘The Chosen,’” Kennedy said of the translation progress. “So for us to be able to do this, this is a great milestone for us to be able to hit. We’re just thrilled about this.”
The translation process for “The Chosen” begins once filming for each season is completed. Getting all the translations done takes a “small army,” Kennedy said.
The translation team is made up of theologians and linguists, as well as pastors and Bible experts, who all make certain the translations are accurate to each diverse culture. For the dubbed translations, there is a team of voice actors who record the dialogue in each new language.
In light of “The Chosen’s” record-breaking number of translated languages, The Come and See Foundation remains “laser-focused” on continuing the translation process, still aiming for 600.
“We still have a lot of room to go, and the best way to be able to do that is through the translation efforts that we’re working on,” said Kennedy.
“We’re looking forward toward Season 6 and Season 7. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.”
The global impact of ‘The Chosen’
More than 280 million viewers in 175 countries have seen “The Chosen.” And the biblical drama’s reach continues to expand across the globe.
The fifth season of the series, which was largely crowd-funded, received donations from 105,000 individuals or groups from 150 different countries.
“It still is mind blowing to me how we could be reaching so many people,” said Vanessa Benavente, the actress who plays Mother Mary on “The Chosen.”
“It’s remarkable … the corners this show has reached in the world. It’s beautiful and it’s inspiring.”
Benavente said that as a Hispanic woman, seeing people across the world experience the series in their first language has been a “special” experience.
“The show enables (viewers) to watch the show and understand it in their own language,” she added. “You have no idea how important it is that we’re doing this. And it touches my heart.”
Kennedy said The Come and See Foundation receives a “consistent” flow of letters from kids and adults worldwide expressing the impact the series has had in their lives.
Many of them, Kennedy said, say “The Chosen” was their first exposure to Jesus Christ. He said many letters are sent from people who previously stepped away from religion, and were brought back by “The Chosen.”
“It’s something that’s not specific to the U.S. or North America, we are seeing stories come in from around the world,” Kennedy said. “The impact stories continue to come in.”
‘The Chosen’ Season 5 is now available on the app
The fifth season of “The Chosen” is now available on “The Chosen” app in both the U.S. and Canada as well as internationally.
“Fewer than 5% of global ‘Chosen’ viewers pay to watch the show, and that’s because of the people around the world who donate to keep the show free and easy to watch and translated into as many languages as possible,” Jenkins said in statement. “This free global launch is why we do what we do.”
“The Chosen” app is available to download on the App Store, Google Play, Fire TV and Roku TV.