Since the premiere of all six episodes of Unchosen on Netflix on April 21, 2026, the show has been one of the most discussed new releases, and impressively so. Unchosen is a psychological thriller set in a dominantly religious cult. Unchosen is rife with authentic, startling moments building through to a powerful climax.
Isaac, Adam’s younger sibling, is played by Aston McAuley, and he is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the entire series. In the beginning, his storyline is really only a subplot, but ultimately becomes one of the most disturbing aspects of Unchosen. The storyline of Isaac really serves to show the lengths to which Sam is willing to go to protect himself and remain a part of the community that he has taken over.
Isaac is presented early in the show, Unchosen, as someone who has already fallen into major trouble within the Fellowship of the Divine. He was found in possession of a mobile phone that is strictly prohibited within the community, and he had also been involved in a relationship with an “unchosen” person who is not part of the sect, an offense considered equally major.
As the elder, Adam is doing to his own brother what the Fellowship does to anyone else who steps out of line: punishing them harshly and with no mercy. Adam has locked Isaac in his room and is forcing him to drink huge quantities of alcohol as punishment. This is an example of coercion, which was demonstrated on the show, as having real-life roots among other controlling religious groups.
Once Isaac was able to make it out of the cult on his own, he was able to enter the world and collect information on his situation. When he sees some news stories about Sam’s criminal past (Sam is a convict who is currently on the run and is wanted for various extremely violent crimes), he immediately recognizes the threat that Sam poses to his family. He works to try to get in touch with Rosie, and the two of them plan to meet at a park where he will have the opportunity to tell her face-to-face.
How does Sam kill Isaac and get away with it in Unchosen?
Isaac never makes it to that meeting. Sam finds out about the plan and moves first. After Sam checks in with Mr. Phillips, the Fellowship’s alcoholic leader (Christoper Eccleston), and cracks him on the head, he tracks down Isaac and runs him off the road, where his van crashes and he dies.
Sam confirms that Isaac is dead, grabs the unconscious Mr. Phillips, and sticks him up in the front seat of the car, and he gets a flask put in his hand. Sam then leaves the man there to get picked up by passersby. Sam does this very calculatedly and very coldly, almost as if he were setting up Mr. Phillips, who is known to be an alcoholic, and it will appear to everyone that Mr. Phillips, being drunk, caused the accident.
When Mr. Phillips is aware again, he seems confused, too. He suffered a head injury and is still unable to construct what happened to him until he gradually recalls everything again. Now he knows it was Sam who was driving and not him. But unfortunately, nobody believes his story.
His reputation for drinking makes it easy for anyone to deny whatever accusations he makes; together with the good cover of his tracks that Sam has done, there is no clear way to pin the crime on him. The death of Isaac goes unaccounted for formally, so Sam just continues to operate as though nothing ever happened within the Fellowship.
Why Isaac’s death in Unchosen is important and what does it reveal about Sam?
Isaac’s death is the moment in Unchosen that makes it impossible to view Sam as simply a complicated or morally grey figure anymore. Up until that point, the show had been careful to keep him somewhat ambiguous, someone shaped by trauma and abandonment, capable of genuine feeling but also deeply dangerous. Killing Isaac removes any ambiguity. He does it to protect himself, to stop someone from exposing him, and he does it without hesitation. He then frames an innocent man for it without a second thought.
What makes it even more chilling is the ending. In the final episode, Unchosen jumps forward a year, and Sam is shown standing at the front of the Fellowship, preaching to the congregation, having become the new leader of the very community he entered as an outsider. He was never charged with Isaac’s murder. He never faced any consequences.
Showrunner Julie Gearey told Netflix’s Tudum that the ending was intended as a pointed observation about how systems, whether religious or otherwise, often protect men with power and status rather than punish them.
All six episodes of Unchosen are streaming now on Netflix.
Edited by Sroban Ghosh