Actor Luke Dimyan, who plays Judas Iscariot in the popular Bible series The chosen onessays he already had strong feelings about the character even before he was cast — and he’s excited for people to see a different side of him.
“I always loved the Old Testament growing up,” Dimyan, 28, tells PEOPLE. Dimyan, an Egyptian-American from Torrance, California, grew up in the Coptic Orthodox Church, which is the Christian religion in Egypt.
“I was reading my Bible,” he explains with a laugh. “I understood the stories and was very aware of them before I was hired The chosen ones. For me personally, I’ve always felt there was more to Judas than greed or the devil’s manipulation and mind control.”
He continues: “His name is cursed and maligned, of course. But I’ve also had many conversations with people, even in my Coptic community, who genuinely feel heartbroken for him. And naturally you can see that there is is space for that. One bad thing he did hurt him so much that he took his own life.”
Luke Dimyan from The Chosen, plays Judas.
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Dimyan, who joined The chosen ones in the third season, he says that there are no spoilers in how Judah’s story ends in the end. But he liked to show other sides to him in the last two seasons.
“The show focuses on him as a very excitable, naive kid. I think that was the Judas of the group,” he says. “He’s the little brother you want to take care of, but he just makes naive little brother mistakes because he wants to be so much more.”
Dimyan, the son of two doctors who were born in Egypt but grew up in the US, says being on the show changed his life. “I get more recognition in the Midwest and the South, where our viewership is really big,” he says of the show. It also receives international recognition.
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“I’ve had some very nice interactions with fans that will surprise me,” he says. “Just out of the blue someone will recognize me like: ‘Ah, you’re Judas!’ And I say: ‘Ah, don’t hurt me!’ And they’ll say, ‘No, we love you.’ ”
He says that the creator of the series, Dallas Jenkins, is very careful to be historically accurate in the retelling of the story, while also taking care of artistic creativity.
“The chosen ones he tries to be very respectful of the time, the history, the people in which this story takes place,” says Dimyam. “That’s why it’s almost a historical drama. We are getting into the politics of it. We go into the economic situation of the people of Israel and how they feel oppressed and financially burdened by the military occupation of Rome. It gets very specific. And I think that’s why it got so big. It has become so widespread because it is not just about telling the story of Jesus, but Fr understanding the story of Jesus.”
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Luke Dimyan as Judas from The Chosen.
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He adds that this accuracy makes him feel even more for his character.
“In every dogmatic sense, you just have to hate Judas,” he says. “But with Judas, if it was all about money, if it was all about greed, he could have gone. He didn’t. His betrayal couldn’t even go through trial. He couldn’t even go to crucifixion.”
He adds: “He was so heartbroken. He came back, threw the coins at the feet of the Pharisees, and when they said they couldn’t undo what was about to happen, he realized that his best friend, his mentor, a father figure, someone he genuinely loved, he will be killed, hurt and slaughtered, it was too much for him.”
Dimyan continues, “He lost everything. And when you’re filled with such despair, such depression, such heartache, that you inevitably take your own life, I feel like that’s something I regret. It’s heartbreaking.”
The Chosen, season 5 will be released on March 27, in select theaters, and then on streaming.
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Source: HIS Education