Welcome everyone, uh, Religion Unplugged listeners. Uh, we're so happy today. I'm Joseph Holmes. I'm so happy today to be interviewing Yasmin Al Babi. She is an actress who has been on shows such as Nashville and The Originals. But of course, uh, Christians will know her most, uh, from her role in The Chosen as Rama, one of the followers of Jesus. And I'm so happy, uh, to have you here today. Oh man, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Nice to meet you, Joseph. Nice to meet you as well. Um, so obviously this interview is going to get into some spoiler territory for the new season, uh, season 4 of The Chosen. But first, before we get into the spoiler territory, I want to ask you just how did you actually, um, get involved in The Chosen in the first place? Like, how did you find out about it? What attracted you to the role? Uh, what was, uh, how did you get into this part? The way that I found out about it and got introduced to the role was, uh, just

through an audition, and they shoot in Texas, so I have a Texas agent. I'm from Dallas, and my Texas agent just sent me an audition. I was not even sure what the project was, had not heard of it, and it was actually for the role of Eden first, so L character, who is obviously played so beautifully by L. And um, yeah, I think a lot of us, actually all, read for different parts, and then they just kind of puzzle pieced it together, which was really, it's you know, it's cool to see. It's always so fun to hear what other people read for first, totally M for different things, not even like this one and done, but they were just going through trying to figure it out. Um, so yeah, I read for Eden first, and then Rama came up, and I just sent in a t cape, and again, they shoot in Dallas, and so the fact, like I got it, found out that I got it. I did not audition in person or anything, um, and I just got excited that I was gonna get to go home.

for a little bit, I was like, Oh my gosh, this job's gonna take me home to Dallas. This is so great. Um, and then I obviously, the writing was just so great. Whenever I did get the script, I thought it was beautiful. Um, and for me, I was only in that one episode in season one, so I didn't read everything or see everything. It was just, that was the only experience that I had, just reading that script for that episode, episode five, um, in season one. And I just thought it was awesome writing. And then I get to set, and I just see how intricate everything is, uh, and how all the departments have come together to create this world. And the costumes were beautiful, the wardrobe was beautiful, the set design, the art, and everything. Um, and then we also did a bunch of, because we shoot outside a lot, so for that one, it was, you know, the wedding for that episode. Um, and it was, I just remember it being night shoots, and so we were all just kind of delusional, and it was just

such a big celebration it was. Uh, it was just so much dancing and all of this. So, that was to have that be my first experience or introduction into the chosen. I was like, This is going to be a blast, you guys. Uh, so that was, that's how I got introduced to the Chosen. And then, obviously, meeting everybody and that just enhanced the experience. But yeah, awesome. So, um, what did you, as you, because you're creating this character, which is interesting because, you know, The Chosen obviously is a show that attempts to, you know, bring life to characters that are in the Bible. But, of course, you're a character who wasn't, was sort of created from scratch for the show. Um, and so you have a certain degree of room to kind of create this character yourself. What was it that you kind of saw in the role that you then decided, Okay, what do I want to bring to this? I mean, besides the fact that she's just a woman who is doing this thing that is going against everything that

She should probably be doing, uh, that was number one. I absolutely loved that. And then she's just such a lighthearted person. I love bringing that into the role, um, her positivity, how she sees the world, uh, overall. My thing that I hold really dear to Rama is her relationship with her dad, which obviously enhances or makes the experience so much more difficult, or the decision so much more difficult to just up and leave her father. Um, and so that was the thing, you know, which goes back to the first point of doing things that probably you would not do or is unconventional. But the fact that she has so much of that gusto within her, that that's the decision that she makes. I mean, it's a hard decision, but I love that that's the route that, uh, that Rama took, that the writers gave her. That's awesome. Excuse me. Well, yeah, so now we are getting into spoiler territory for anybody who doesn't want

to did you watch it? I did watch it, yes. I should have asked that. We should have led with that. I had no idea. So, you watched the first three already? Yes, I've watched the entire first season, fourth season, because I, uh, because I got screen film critic privileges. Yes, what? Yes, what you think overall? I want to get, I want to get, I say, I over, overall very much love the, particularly the first two episodes. I thought the rest of the season was maybe uneven, obviously because RBA's not in it. You know what is, it's not as good when she's not in it. Um, but, but no, I mean, for those spoiler territories, you know, you know, for people who, you know, have not seen it, you know, obviously the first three episodes. In the third episode, Rama does die at the hands of Quintus. And I want to know, like, what, how, when did you find out, first of all, that Rama had an expiration date? Was that something you found out in

the fourth season and how has that presented to you and how were you did you uh uh wrestle through that with the writers of the and the the the story wide oh um I found out in the second season actually is when Dallas told me because it was already outlined pled out yeah and they were so sweet too and who knows maybe they were just telling me this just tell me this uh but they were so sweet to say gosh you know we tried to obviously once you get to know people and you love working with them and that was one of those situations where we just all loved working with each other uh and again they could probably just be telling me this just because they want me to feel better they're like we tried really hard to see if we can if we could make it something else just because we obviously got to know each other and we love working with each other um but yeah it was it was in season two so I can imagine that it was already in the works.

of even before that. Yeah, okay, that makes total sense. And so, how were you playing Rama through this process, like knowing that she was a character who was destined to die? Like, how did you want to then present Rama to the audience, and her character arc? How did you see her character arc that you were building, knowing that was sort of the end point of it? I actually would forget about it because I didn't want to think about it, so it wasn't something that, and you know, that's another, I mean, a character doesn't know, yes, Yasmin knew that there was a demise, but Rama did not. And so, it was just really just playing out how the day-to-day, what's going on in the story, not really keeping that in, like there wasn't anything where I had to, I mean, you know, I could imagine that, like, for instance, Jonathan has a different kind of experience with this, but with me, yeah, I just have, I don't know that it's coming, and I'm

just playing it out the way that I would normally play it out, of course knowing that that's going to happen, and just it made me sad. Fair, fair. Well, I've seen the reactions online, and clearly you're not the only one who it made sad and all sad. We're missing your the light and joy that you bring to the show, but I guess this is a good segue for anybody who has really enjoyed your work here. What other projects do you have coming up potentially that you want people to get excited about if they're enjoying your work? Right now, I'm working on NCIS Hawaii, so I'm doing that, and yeah, so that's happening. That's starting the first episode February 12th on CBS, and that's after the Super Bowl, yeah, on Monday. So yeah, that's my next project. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and being able to, and thank you for all the work you've done to make the show

such an enjoyable show to watch, man. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Joseph. All right, take care.

Interview with Yasmin Al-Bustami (Ramah of The Chosen)

Scripts