Other than some of the old Roman emperors themselves—we’re looking at you, Nero—does anyone more powerfully represent the political (and painful) oppression first-century Israel faced than a Roman soldier? So, it’s quite the feat The Chosen’s pulled off in getting a good number of you to care about one of them. Because c’mon—admit it: you’re three seasons in and standing at the doorstep of Season 4, and you’re all in on learning how the story’s going to unfold for a Roman soldier named Gaius.
We bet you didn’t see that coming when you started the series. But here we are.
The Man Behind the Soldier
To be fair, a big part of the draw to Gaius is the man who portrays him: Kirk B.R. Woller. Woller and Dallas have worked together for something like 25 years. In fact, Woller’s played a role in almost every project Dallas has done. And you can see why. Whether it’s in his work with The Chosen or in other projects that range from Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report to the The X-Files, he’s not afraid to add quirks and personality to whoever he’s portraying. He speaks a thousand words with an upward twitch at the corner of his mouth or by merely blinking his wide-eyed eyes. And he doesn’t shy away from weaving in emotive twists and turns that catch viewers by surprise and often even moves them in ways unexpected. Simply put: Woller’s become a fan favorite. For real—you should have heard the roar from the audience when he walked out on the stage at The Chosen Insiders Convention in October.
But back to where we started: the character of Gaius has become a fan favorite, too. And while this is due in no small part to Woller’s work, it’s also because of the work put in by the writers of The Chosen.
Slaying the Stereotype—and Elevating the Human
It would have been easy to steer right into the stereotypes many folks have cultivated concerning Roman soldiers—to write every soldier, including Gaius, as some unthinkingly loyal brute for an evil empire, always scowling in the street and itching to swing a sword. But as Woller pointed out when discussing his character at ChosenCon, “Dallas hates stereotypes.” One of the chief goals for all of the writers at The Chosen has been to paint earthy portraits of Jesus, his followers, and the countless others who surrounded him (and them)—and to do so as they remain faithful to the historical accounts that have been handed down to us. And so from the first episode of Season 1, every character a viewer encounters has layer upon layer, because every character is a man or a woman or a child with a backstory filled with experiences that have shaped them for better or for worse (and oftentimes, both). And this includes the ones who were pretty skittish about Jesus. There’s surprising depth to even a Roman soldier, because they’re a human being long before they don the armor and take hold of some title. And that depth demands to be appreciated.
Which leads us to Gaius…
When you first meet him, he’s in full gear, standing outside of a tax collection booth with the sort of sneer that can only come from contempt for the Jews. But within a handful of scenes, he’s so suddenly protective of a Jewish tax collector named Matthew that you’d think he was Matthew’s father. And just when you’re tempted to think Gaius is nothing more than the puppet of another character, Quintus, the snide and dangerous Roman magistrate in Capernaum and Praetor of Galilee, you spot Gaius turning a bit of a (legal) blind eye to some of what is unfolding with Jesus and his disciples. And there’s more. We’re three seasons in with the guy, and we’ve caught him jovially tying sailor knots with a Jewish fisherman and doling out marriage advice that just so happens to be quite good.
Even still, The Chosen’s writers have never forgotten that Gaius is a Roman soldier. And so there are still scenes in which he shows flashes of rage, where he isn’t above lying, where he makes things harder for Jesus and his disciples than they need to be. And, well, for those of you who have watched, you know that there’s quite the twist to his story in Season 3.
This rollercoaster of a journey with Gaius through the first three seasons The Chosen has left many a viewer asking, “Is Gaius a good guy or a bad guy?” Which is great. Because it means the writers of The Chosen have successfully done what they set out to do: they’ve introduced you to an intricate someone who is trying to figure out what on earth to do with Jesus, with the world around him, and even what to do about what’s unfolding in his own home.
And in answer to that question—“Is Gaius a good guy or a bad guy”—he’s a human being.
