"The Chosen’s" Elizabeth Tabish is opened up about how playing Mary Magdalene in the biblical series touched her heart.
Mary Magdalene, who meets Jesus when she is at a dark place in her life, finds forgiveness and love in her Savior while devoting the rest of her life to him.
"When I first booked it, I was kind of going through some similar emotional states myself," Tabish told "The Story" recently in a joint interview with Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the series. "I was having a real tough time finding meaning in my own life and I couldn't make rent. I was struggling with a lot of different things, and so, when I first read the script for the audition, I just I felt so connected to her."
The actress called to mind another touching scene in the series where a woman defies the wishes of her father to follow Jesus.
"We see the effects of that and how it sort of creates division within families, within communities, to make that choice ... you put your life on the line for this, and we see what happens with it," she reflected.
Roumie says the season shows how the disciples, one of which is Mary Magdalene, experience a variety of "emotional giants" such as grief and loss.
Jesus will remind the church leaders, who have "perverted the faith of their forefathers" what it "means to love, to have mercy and forgiveness and compassion," Roumie says.