The actor who played Philip on The Chosen chose to leave the show for a combination of personal and professional reasons.
Yoshi Barrigas, the actor who played Philip in the first three seasons of The Chosen, confirmed via an Instagram announcement that he decided to leave the show for professional and personal reasons. But Philip will still be featured on the show in season four.
Why did Philip leave The Chosen?
By now, The Chosen fans will likely already know that Yoshi Barrigas, the actor who used to play Philip on The Chosen has left the show.
Whether that is because you have been sucked into the online rumor mill, or simply because you noticed a new face among the twelve disciples when you tuned in to watch the new season.
Yoshi officially announced his departure from the show in an Instagram post from May 4, 2023, where he explained that he was leaving due to “professional and personal” reasons.
Yoshi is not the first actor to split from the show, and this post does not give us much in terms of any possible interesting behind the scenes details.
However, it seems as though he did not leave the show on a bad note and that he fully supports the new actor who will be taking on the role of Philip moving forward.
Other actors who have also left The Chosen
Even though The Chosen is only on its fourth season, Yoshi is not the first actor to part ways with the show. In fact, the character Big James has actually been portrayed by three separate actors throughout the course of the series.
This character was played by Shayan Sobhian for the first part of the first season, but then replaced by Kian Kavousi.
Unfortunately, Kavousi had to leave the show on short notice on account of a family emergency and was replaced by Abe Bueno-Jallad in 2020.
What are Yoshi’s plans moving forward?
Besides officially announcing his departure from The Chosen, and thanking all of the show’s fans, as well as the creators of the show, Dallas Jenkins and Amanda Jenkins, Yoshi also asked fans of the show to “continue to follow” his journey.
Although Yoshi did not explain exactly what this journey would entail, it is fair to assume that he will probably be pursuing other acting roles in the future.
Who is playing the new Philip?
Fortunately, it does not mean that just because Yoshi has left The Chosen, the character of Philip has disappeared from the show.
As many keen-eyed fans had already figured out from the set photos that were released for season four, Reza Diako will be portraying Philip on The Chosen moving forward.