The global success of Angel Studio’s The Chosen has demonstrated that audiences are hungry to see the stories of Scripture honored through excellent filmmaking. Amazon Studios has responded with an excellent offering of their own: House of David. 

House of David is a multi-season Biblical drama that depicts the unlikely rise of the young shepherd-boy David as he ascends to the throne of Israel and the correspondent demise of David’s predecessor, King Saul. The first season was released in Spring 2025 and it follows David throughout his teenage years as he journeys towards his climactic confrontation with the giant Goliath. It is a sweeping story that deftly follows a contingent of compelling characters as they journey through primitive warfare, tender romance, disconcerting prophecies and the intrigues of a kingdom that is torn between the call of God and the ambition of man. 

I found that House of David offers artistic excellence while also remaining steadfast in its recounting of Biblical truth. The show takes creative liberties, but they do so in a way that remains true to the overall truth of Scripture. This is not a secularized version of King David’s story: God is embedded and honored at the forefront of the entire show. The script manages to convey the deep, spiritual nature of the story without betraying the audience with corny sentimentality or preachy exposition. 

I was personally struck by one of the show’s central themes: the experience of receiving a calling from the Lord. God speaks intimately to many of the show’s lead characters and He calls them forth with challenging prophecies that often bewilder or surprise them. Along with the theme of calling, a theme of waiting upon the Lord runs throughout the show. David - along with other characters - clearly hears the call of God upon his life and he has the understandable urge to immediately act on what he has heard. But God is gentle and quiet in moments when thunder and action might have been expected. An anointing comes… and then a call to wait and trust. The mystery of God’s pacing weighs heavily on David. 

Multiple characters wrestle with a desire to do great things with their lives, to fulfill what they believe is the call upon their lives, to satiate a great longing within themselves, and they are met with the mutually confounding and consoling realization that their lives are not their own. Their desires and calling are of Divine origin and as such the fulfillment of desire and the realization of their calling is primarily the work of God, not the work of man. The show maintains an urgent pace while leading the audience through the tension of characters who are wrestling with their desire to move and their call to wait - and the consequences that unfold when man chooses to act in contradiction to the voice of God. 

I found myself relating to many of the characters and how they wrestle with God. This is a universal experience for followers of Christ: we want to follow God, but his timing and ways are often hard to comprehend. The call to trust and to be humble before God in the face of life’s expansiveness is easier said than done. House of David invites its audience to engage with these universal themes through storytelling that is both relatable and archetypal. 

The show is not conventionally “family-friendly.” As it is found in the Bible, the story of David - and his predecessor Saul -  is dark. It is also laden with extraordinary grace and beauty; however, both of these men were warriors who fought vicious battles and who were intertwined in many sorts of violent intrigues. House of David does not shy away from the darkness and brutality that the Bible itself recounts. While this makes for a series that is inaccessible to younger eyes, I appreciated the rawness and television “realism” of the show as it serves to augment the gravitas that is appropriate to a story of such epic proportions. 

The commitment to depicting the primitive darkness that characterized the civilization of ancient Israel and her many enemies also justifies the ways in which the characters live their lives and wrestle with God. This is the Old Testament, the era of the Old Covenant, where God’s wrath came in swift and material response to the sins of his people. The mercy and salvation of Jesus Christ that will one day come down the line of David is both palpably absent and anticipated throughout the series. While the coming of Christ is not explicitly referenced, it is conveyed through the desire for salvation that is felt and not yet met throughout the story.

While I loved the show (and I am currently rewatching with friends), it has its imperfections. In what was likely an attempt to match the intricate mythologies and worldbuilding of other shows within the epic/fantasy genre, House of David commits some airtime to the origin story and personal development of the giant Goliath, young David’s most famous opponent. Goliath is not merely a giant-sized man, according to House of David. He is one of the Nephilim, the mythical offspring of fallen angels and human women, which are referenced in the Bible (Genesis 6:4, Numbers 13:33). While the storyline has fascinating aspects, I found that the writers indulged in an overly cliched iteration of a villain who is driven by pain rather than evil and an inexplicably AI-harlequin sequence that recounts the illicit origins of the Nephilim. 

Overall, House of David is worth your time to watch. Time is a precious gift from God - and just like David - we’re all called to a story of epic proportions. Either way, if we’re going to spend 8 hours (the full runtime of House of David, Season 1) watching a show, it should be something that renews our spirits and inspires us to move forward in our own callings. For me, this was House of David.