- Dallas Jenkins announced the severance of ties between "The Chosen" and Angel Studios.
- The 2024 split followed arbitration favoring "The Chosen" over "multiple, significant" contract violations.
- "The Chosen" now partners with Come and See Foundation and Amazon Prime Video.
SALT LAKE CITY — Ties between Angel Studios and "The Chosen" have officially been severed, the biblical drama's creator, Dallas Jenkins, announced during a recent livestream.
The first three seasons of "The Chosen" were distributed through a partnership between Dallas Jenkins and Angel Studios — the Utah-based film studio known for distributing "Sound of Freedom," "The King of Kings" and other faith-based content.
In 2023, "The Chosen" entered a private arbitration with Angel Studios over "multiple, significant contract violations," Jenkins said. The following year, the arbitrator "ruled overwhelmingly in favor" of "The Chosen" team.
"Angel Studios appealed that decision, as is their right that was expected, and just last week, we got the fortunate news that three independent arbitrators reviewed the case in-depth and independently, (and) all independently upheld the original decision," Jenkins said.
"So this arbitration case is officially closed ... the contract is officially terminated forever, essentially. And so this was wonderful news that we were able to kind of put that episode behind us."
In the wake of the 2024 split between Angel Studios and "The Chosen," Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said, "The team at Angel Studios is honored to have been instrumental in the founding and unbelievable growth of 'The Chosen,'" per a statement shared with Variety.
Harmon's 2024 statement continued, "Our long hours of hard work over the last 8 years by teams of programmers, marketers, translators, licensing experts, and innovators have helped it become the worldwide success that it is today. Sadly, The Chosen, Inc. chose to terminate its agreement with us. We hope that one day the agreement will be restored."
The 2024 split from Angel Studios provided "The Chosen" team with the freedom to seek new partnerships and funding.
"The Chosen" found funding from the Come and See Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds production costs, aids in translation efforts and ensures the series remains available for free through "The Chosen" app.
In February, Jenkins announced that Prime Video would be the exclusive distributor for the series. The wide-ranging deal gave Amazon MGM Studios exclusive streaming rights for "The Chosen," as well as future projects.
Jenkins thanked Angel Studios for its support in kick-starting the biblical drama and congratulated the studio on its ongoing success with different projects.
"(Angel Studios) had a tremendous role in the launching of this show and the launching of our crowdfunding that made Season 1, seasons 1 and 2 possible," Jenkins said during the livestream.
He added, "I'll always be forever grateful to Angel Studios for their role in all of that. I love those guys over there, and I congratulate them on some of the other projects that they've been distributing that have had a lot of success. And so bear no ill will towards Angel Studios, but we're no longer with them."
