Jesus can walk on water, but he still gets a little spooked rappelling down a mountainside. Thankfully, our Jesus for our time — Jonathan Roumie in The Chosen — counts Bear Grylls among his disciples. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
On Wednesday, Amazon Prime Video released the trailer for the crossover TV event of the A.D. era: The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls. In the series, Roumie, Paras Patel (Matthew in The Chosen), Elizabeth Tabish (Mary Magdalene), Noah James (Andrew), Luke Dimyan (Judas) and series creator and executive producer Dallas Jenkins jump from planes, scale cliffs, eat scorpions (because W.W.J.D., I guess), zipline over canyons and “navigate some of the country’s most rugged terrain under the guidance of renowned adventurer Bear Grylls,” per the synopsis. Personally, I wouldn’t fall asleep around Dimyan if I were Roumie.
Why to all of this? Well, the answer, in part, is probably because summer is traditionally a very slow period for TV — The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls premieres Aug. 9, 2026. Plus, the rights became available after Jenkins and his former partner Angel Studios had a non-Christian-like falling out.
In 2025, Amazon MGM Studios inked a first-look, multi-faceted deal with Jenkins’ 5&2 Studios. The arrangement gives Amazon/MGM this show, the streaming rights to the first five seasons of The Chosen, The Chosen Adventures and Joseph of Egypt. It also includes theatrical and streaming rights to The Chosen‘s upcoming final two seasons, which will follow the Crucifixion (season six) and the Resurrection (season seven).
And, oh yeah, there’s also this: “For decades, Bear has survived dangerous expeditions around the globe, anchored by his faith in Jesus,” the press notes for The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls read. “Now he’s taking the stars of the global hit series on missions into the unknown.”
It’s true: Grylls is a man of God. In addition to his work on TV, which also includes Man vs. Wild, Running Wild With Bear Grylls and The Island With Bear Grylls, Bear is the author of faith-based books Soul Fuel and the recent The Greatest Story Ever Told — a retelling of the life of Jesus reflecting his own deep faith and Christian beliefs.
The six-episode series’ synopsis continues: “Across challenging environments ranging from Utah’s Castle Valley and Canyonlands to the Ausable River, the Colorado River, the Great Basin Desert and the Adirondack Forest, Bear pushes his guests beyond their comfort zones while exploring what makes them tick and drawing out deeply personal conversations about faith and spirituality.”
That campsite is gonna get preachy in the long evening hours.
Watch the trailer:
The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls is produced by 5&2 Studios, alongside The Natural Studios and Workerbee. Executive producers include Grylls, Jenkins, Brad Pelo, Katherine Warnock, Ben Simon, Delbert Shoopman, Ben Mitchell, Rick Murray, Brent Ryan Green, Ryan Swanson, and Tyler Thompson. The series is directed by Robert Austin Vanover.