Katherine Warnock is the Vice President of Content on The Chosen, a global hit phenomenon TV drama about the life of Jesus Christ.

PEER: What does your role entail as Vice President of Content on The Chosen?

KATHERINE WARNOCK: So, I oversee a number of verticals. I oversee the cast, so I help from PR (public relations) to marketing to traveling around the world. We work with them very closely. I also oversee all supplementary contents, so we’re doing tons of different documentary series. We’re going to take our cast to Israel later in the year. We’re just wrapping up the documentary series with Jonathan Roumie who plays Jesus, and we did “Unfiltered: Gen Z Reacts to The Chosen” which was to date, my favorite project I’ve ever worked on. I also oversee special events from Feeding the 5,000 that we filmed for Season 3 to theatrical premieres and our soon to be theatrical release again, in theaters for our finale on February 2-3.

P: How did you know you want to get into this line of work and in this industry?

K: I was actually a high school teacher when God did what only God can do. He gatecrashed my life and said, “I want you to go and work in Hollywood,” and I had no idea what that meant or would entail. And so many years later, I worked in fashion, I worked in media, I worked in you name it, I felt like I kind of did it all. And then, I found my way through to MGM as the head of Faith and Family content. And then from there, I came over to “The Chosen.”

P: You mentioned a documentary, I do want to talk about that. What was the purpose? What was the intent behind “Unfiltered Gen Z: Reacts to The Chosen”?

K: We have a huge passion for Gen Z. It’s such a phenomenal generation and I think an often-misunderstood generation, church and unchurch alike. And so, for us, Olivia, we were also seeing that Gen Z was responding so positively to The Chosen and that, quite frankly, shocked us and encouraged us. And so, Derral Eves, executive producer of The Chosen—I like to call him the godfather of YouTube. He helped create big content creators like Mr. Beast, for example. So, he had this great idea one day, he said, “Katherine, I’ve got an idea. I want to bring together a whole bunch of Gen Z-ers but not tell them what they’re going to binge and we just surprise, make them binge Jesus.” I was like, “okay.” And then, he walks away. So, I’m like, okay, I’ve got to create this whole reality out of his vision. So, we ended up as a blind case study casting nine Gen Z-ers from around the world of all different backgrounds, of all different worldviews, and we brought them together for the surprise of binging Jesus and watching their shock and awe as we finally reveal to them, you’re going to binge Jesus. And it was really fun, and we watched as they had a very honest dialogue about the good, the bad, the ugly … [of] Christians, culture, their generation. And what came through the documentary, in my opinion, was pure magic.

P: Yeah, because you hear Gen Z as largely religiously unaffiliated. Even recently though, I think Gen Z wants to know more about Jesus, but I love that “The Chosen” can reach that broader audience outside of the church. That kind of leads to my next question. Why is it important that this series, as it becomes a global hit phenomenon, why is it important that this series reach a broader audience that includes even non-Christians?

K: It’s really amazing, Olivia, because we have, as you mentioned, we have not only evangelicals, Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, we also have Agnostics, Atheist, Buddhists, Hindus, even Satanists writing us every day going, okay, “This show is changing my life. This is helping me overcome depression, suicidal ideation. This is helping me—even though I’m not a Christian, I’ve now become a student of Jesus.” That’s pretty extraordinary. And so, I think it’s two things. I think it’s the humanity and the authenticity that the show is intent and the playfulness, it’s intimate, it’s playful, it’s dynamic, it’s disruptive. And we’ve never really, in my opinion, having worked in Faith media for going on 20 years at this point, I think that’s very rare. As Christians, we’re not usually very good at being in the messiness of life and letting Jesus encounter us in that messiness. We’re not good at letting that have a platform and so, “The Chosen” lets us be in process; “The Chosen” shows us that Jesus loves us when we’re in process. He meets us as we are and then takes us on a journey. We’re not just perfect that out of the gate. And so, I loved that “The Chosen” chose that level of humanity and I think that authenticity, that permission to come as you are, and meet the authentic Jesus—I think that’s what Gen Z is responding to on the most.

P: Do you have any specific memorable moments from filming this past season that you hope readers learn from?

K: So much fun. So many, so many. So, we’re filming feeding of the 5,000 and we flew in the Gen Z cast for the documentary series. Anyone that watched the series sees that, one of the cast members became a Christian through the experience and then few other just were really just engaged with the authentic Jesus and then, what we all became kind of a family. So, we flew them out to just engage with filming and observe. What they didn’t know is that we were going to bring them up in front of all the 5,000 extras and just have them sit and be celebrated because this whole film had watched the documentary series. And then, we brought them to set, down the set to watch the filming and they were just watching and then all of the sudden, all of our cast came up to them and fanboyed over the Gen Z cast. Our Gen Z casts, they’re blowing away because they’re like, “Wait! They’re like, wanting to engage through this.” And our cast was so thankful for them being willing to engage, it was something that was outside of their worldview and have honest conversation about it. And that was really fun to see, not only the generations coming together and just having a real lovefest with each other, to really honor each other, but also, to see the reality of critical discussion and the importance of it. And that was really fun, that was probably my favorite of the whole season.

P: What excites you about being a part of these series in 2023?

K: As a mother myself and someone that has experience, the pretty devastating infertility, it was amazing to watch Eden’s story come alive at season three and to watch the importance of females in the Jesus story come to the forefront. And I love that, that excites me, that we’re telling all the back stories and that we’re engaging with how Jesus engages with not only through generations but also through the genders so and so forth. So, that has been—I’m really excited about that of the impact to that continual impact to telling these real stories, meeting people right where they are in the messiness of life. I’m looking for the people walking, “Where are you going?” “Following Jesus’ heart.”

P: What do you hope Gen Z takes away from the specific season three of “The Chosen”?

K: Permission to be in process. If we’re truly seeking after truth, if we’re truly seeking after lordship in our life or even just the answers. Let’s start there. We have total permission to be in process and I think we as Christians could do a lot better at giving ourselves that permission. Instead of letting shame be at the forefront of our lands, we instead can go, “Okay! Permission to be in process.” Today, it was a bad day, but it doesn’t mean I have fallen short or that I’ve backtrack or that I’m failing. It just means I’m in process and God is faithful to see me through. So long that I just stay on the trail.

P: Is there a particular moment in season three with that life message or is that just an overall message?

K: Yeah, it’s an overall message but what you’ll see in the finale the culmination I can’t give away any surprises. No spoilers, Olivia. But you will see someone very angry at God and you will see what do you do with that anger. Are we allowed to be angry at God? Are we allowed to be in that wrestle on in that tension? Or do we need to just be buttoned up and well-behaved. How does God respond to us when we’re that angry, or when we’re that sad and heartbroken? And we see Jesus in how we interacts with the whole dynamic and I think that is the message that I would love Gen Z and people at large just to interact and take the heart.

This interview was edited for length and clarity. To stream season three of “The Chosen,” download Angel Studios app. To stay up to date on “The Chosen” news,” follow @thechosentvseries.