Imagine one day you receive a box with a gun, a photo of a stranger and instructions to “expire” that person in three days or have your own family hurt — would you do it?
That’s the premise of “Chosen,” the action series back for its second season this Thursday, Dec. 12 with six half-hour episodes (two episodes premiere each week) on Crackle — the video site behind Jerry Seinfeld’s popular “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
In Season Two, Chad Michael Murray joins the cast as Jacob Orr, a bartender who is “chosen” for this secret, deadly game which threatens the safety of the brother he’s been taking care of since their parents died — something that resonated with Murray, who has three younger brothers.
“You always want to take care of your own and be there for them. That scenario for me was easy to play out,” Murray tells The Post. “Coming from a home where my father raised us all, we didn’t have a mother at home, knowing that scenario and knowing the responsibilities you have to take on as an older brother — that’s something that fit well with me.”
Though Jacob starts out trying to stay on the straight and narrow, his character has to quickly evolve his idea of right and wrong as he’s pulled into the game.
“He gets his back put up against the wall and has to make decisions,” Murray says. “When you’re put between a rock and a hard place you have to go one way or the other. No matter what decision or what choice he made in our story, it was going to be the right and the wrong choice.”
Murray, best known for his starring role in the teen drama “One Tree Hill,” was attracted to that human element of the show, which also stars Milo Ventimiglia (“Mob City,” “Heroes”) and Nicky Whelan — now Murray’s girlfriend — reprising their roles from Season One.
Murray describes the experience of co-starring with his girlfriend as easy — “It’s nice to go to work and have your best friend there” — but most parts of shooting the high-octane series were far from simple.
Though he had a stunt double, Murray still weathered a fair number of bumps and bruises filming the show’s intense action sequences — including popping out his shoulder and scarring his shin jumping out a window. That was in addition to a grueling film schedule in which they shot 135 pages in 20 12-hour-plus work days.
“It was the most physically and emotionally draining job I’ve done,” Murray says. “And the thing about the show is we’re not just doing two-handed talkers [a static scene with characters talking to each other].
“It’s just a lot of energy that goes into it so when I was done I was spent. I was ready to go home and get in bed for a week.”
Though Murray can’t say whether Jacob could be back for a potential third season, he promises many twists and turns in the six-episode season.
“I really liked the character’s arc. Where Jacob starts and where Jacob grows is very fascinating,” he says. “It’s really a coming of age, telling the tale of who this man is. You’ll see when you watch, I probably would make the same decisions and the same choices.
“With your back against the wall and really no way out, I think you’d do the same things this man does.”