Filming the crucifixion of Jesus for The Chosen became so emotionally overwhelming that Vanessa Benavente repeatedly had to remind herself that Jonathan Roumie was safe and that the horrifying scene unfolding before her was only a performance.
Benavente, who portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus, revealed that shooting the highly anticipated sixth season in Matera, Italy, took a serious emotional toll on members of the cast. Once filming stopped, some actors could not simply step out of the anguish they had been portraying.
"A few people would just start crying inconsolably after they yelled, 'Cut,'" Benavente told Bella Michaels during an appearance on the Off the Record podcast.
The actress said she sometimes jumped up and down while repeating reassuring statements to herself: "I'm safe, Jonathan is safe, everybody's safe, we're just playing make-believe." She also tried to ground herself by remembering that she was an actress filming in Italy-not Mary witnessing the brutal execution of her son.
"This is not real, this is not real, this is not real," she would tell herself. Sometimes the technique helped. On other occasions, the emotional weight of the scenes remained with her.
Benavente compared the lingering effects to symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress, although she was describing her personal experience rather than publicly announcing a medical diagnosis. Her comments offer viewers a startling glimpse behind the cameras as The Chosen approaches the darkest and most painful chapter of the Gospel story.
The sixth season reportedly covers the final hours leading to Jesus' death. For Benavente, portraying Mary during the crucifixion meant entering the grief of a mother forced to watch her son suffer publicly-while Roumie, the actor she has worked alongside for years, appeared beaten and crucified before her.
That combination of biblical tragedy, realistic production and genuine personal connection apparently made it difficult for the cast to keep fiction and emotional reality neatly separated.
The experience also highlights why the crucifixion cannot be treated as merely another dramatic television climax. For Christians, the cross stands at the center of the Gospel: the place where suffering, sin, sacrifice and divine love converge. The actors were recreating a historical and theological event that millions of viewers regard as sacred.
Benavente admitted that Mary initially surprised her when she first auditioned for The Chosen. The script presented Jesus' mother as warm, humorous and fully human rather than as a distant religious figure.
"What part of the Bible is this?" she remembered wondering after reading the material. Yet she was drawn to the character's personality, particularly her sense of humor, which she found refreshing.
The role arrived during an uncertain period in Benavente's career. She was working in casting and receiving few acting opportunities when she was invited to audition. She believed the performance was the best audition she had ever given, but instead of receiving an expected callback or chemistry reading, she heard nothing for four days.
When the call finally came, there was another surprise: she had already won the part, and production was underway.
That opportunity ultimately placed Benavente inside one of the world's most widely discussed faith-based television productions. It has now led her to what may be the most demanding sequence of her time on the series-the moment when Mary must face the death of Jesus.
Season 6 of The Chosen is scheduled to begin streaming on Prime Video on November 15, 2026. The crucifixion finale is expected to receive an exclusive global theatrical release in spring 2027, allowing audiences to experience the climactic scenes on the big screen.
For viewers eagerly awaiting the new episodes, Benavente's confession changes the way those scenes may be received. What appears on screen as Mary's anguish was created by an actress who sometimes had to fight her way back to the present after filming stopped.
The cameras may have been recording a dramatization, but for Benavente and some of her fellow cast members, the tears that continued after "Cut" were painfully real.
