Jonathan Roumie Says Filming the Crucifixion Left Him in Tears: ‘I’d Just Start Weeping’
Jonathan Roumie says in a new interview that portraying the crucifixion of Jesus took a toll on him emotionally, leading him to cry at random moments long after the cameras stopped rolling.
Roumie made the comments in a new interview with CCM Magazine ahead of the Nov. 15 premiere of Season 6 on Prime Video, which depicts Jesus’ arrest and trial. The crucifixion will unfold on the big screen next year in "The Chosen: Crucifixion," the season’s feature-length finale.
Roumie has played Jesus since the series launched, but he says filming Season 6 was different because he had to, mentally, put himself in Jesus’ place on the cross.
To prepare, he imagined what Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane and in the hours that followed as Christ faced a brutal death for the sins of the world.
“I'd be in church, and I'd look at a crucifix, and I’d just start weeping because I've been at that vantage point —trying to convince my brain that that was happening to me,” he said.
The emotions were so deep, Roumie said, that he began to wonder: “How do I let go of that?”
“It's like there's an element of PTSD that is very, very real,” he added.
“I've talked to some other mentors, actors that I know that have said, ‘Yeah, that's absolutely what happened to you. That's why that happened to you.’ You just all of a sudden spontaneously erupted into tears — that means something happened along the way. And so it happens less now, but it's a gradual transition.”
Filming Season 7, which centers on the resurrection, helped Roumie move past some of the emotional weight of playing Jesus on the cross.
“Having the joy of the resurrection for the filming of Season 7, and the fun of being back with the disciples and [the actress who portrays Mary] and just the joy of that season made it so much easier to kind of re-emerge.”
Roumie acknowledged that his approach may sound “insane” to others, but said imagining himself in Jesus’ place helped him make the portrayal appear real.
“No place did I feel more of a switch than I did transitioning from Season 6 into Season 7.”
Meanwhile, Roumie also gave viewers a glimpse of what to expect in Season 6.
“What I wanted to try and convey, especially in the Garden, was the terror of what was in front of Jesus, and the sorrow of it, and the sorrow of knowing what Judas was about to do, and how do you deal with a friend that's going to betray you? Not just Judas Iscariot. How do you deal with your buddy? [Judas was] an adoptive son, almost. And knowing that he's going to send you to the most gruesome end that could possibly happen to a human being.”
Season 6 tested the crew unlike any other season, Roumie added. It was filmed in Italy.
“Those three weeks were the hardest three weeks of the entire series and of most of everyone's filmmaking lives at that point, because you were dealing with language, you were dealing with limited amounts of time, you were dealing with so many things —plus doing it in a foreign country, plus the content —especially the content.”
Photo Credit: ©5&2Studios
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.
Originally published November 10, 2026.
