Fourth season of The Chosen to be available for streaming after contract dispute

The latest season of the popular Christian TV show The Chosen will begin live-streaming on Sunday, June 2, according to the show’s creator and director, Dallas Jenkins. For the next month, new episodes will be released on Sundays at 7 p.m. EST and Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. EST. The new season will only be available on the company’s free app or on DVD. New episodes will also be live-streamed on the show’s social media pages. Season four initially premiered in theaters earlier this year.

Why was there such a delay for this season? Episodes of The Chosen are typically available for free online. The fourth season episodes were initially scheduled to begin streaming shortly after their theater run ended in March, but that was delayed several weeks. On Wednesday, Jenkins blamed the delay on a contract dispute between his company, The Chosen Inc., and its distributor, Angel Studios. Jenkins alleged that Angel Studios repeatedly broke its contract with The Chosen Inc., which Angel Studios denied. Jenkins said that the parties went into private arbitration to solve the disagreement biblically and reduce the risk of public spectacle. The arbitrators agreed on Tuesday that Angel Studios had violated the contract, which rendered it void. The Chosen’s relationship with Angel Studios is now effectively over, Jenkins said. He added that he takes no pleasure in this outcome and is grateful to the studio for its immeasurable help in launching the show.

What were the contract disputes about? Jenkins did not specify how he thinks Angel Studios violated the contract. He said he wanted to clear up social media rumors and assure viewers that the decision to split had not come lightly. Angel Studios did not sue The Chosen Inc. and no one did this for greed or fame, Jenkins said. Angel Studios plans to appeal the decision privately, as outlined by a contract provision, studio CEO Neal Harmon said in a Thursday statement.

Dig deeper: Read Travis K. Kircher’s report in The Sift on filming for the show’s fifth season.