Według mojej wiedzy nie ma na to prostej drogi. Próbowałem również szukać i nie znalazłem lepszego rozwiązania niż poniższe.

Poniższe kody zapewnią Ci dokładnie to, czego szukasz:

class PageTemplater {

    /**
     * A Unique Identifier
     */
     protected $plugin_slug;

    /**
     * A reference to an instance of this class.
     */
    private static $instance;

    /**
     * The array of templates that this plugin tracks.
     */
    protected $templates;


    /**
     * Returns an instance of this class. 
     */
    public static function get_instance() {

            if( null == self::$instance ) {
                    self::$instance = new PageTemplater();
            } 

            return self::$instance;

    } 

    /**
     * Initializes the plugin by setting filters and administration functions.
     */
    private function __construct() {

            $this->templates = array();


            // Add a filter to the attributes metabox to inject template into the cache.
            add_filter(
                'page_attributes_dropdown_pages_args',
                 array( $this, 'register_project_templates' ) 
            );


            // Add a filter to the save post to inject out template into the page cache
            add_filter(
                'wp_insert_post_data', 
                array( $this, 'register_project_templates' ) 
            );


            // Add a filter to the template include to determine if the page has our 
            // template assigned and return it's path
            add_filter(
                'template_include', 
                array( $this, 'view_project_template') 
            );


            // Add your templates to this array.
            $this->templates = array(
                    'goodtobebad-template.php'     => 'It\'s Good to Be Bad',
            );

    } 


    /**
     * Adds our template to the pages cache in order to trick WordPress
     * into thinking the template file exists where it doens't really exist.
     *
     */

    public function register_project_templates( $atts ) {

            // Create the key used for the themes cache
            $cache_key = 'page_templates-' . md5( get_theme_root() . " . get_stylesheet() );

            // Retrieve the cache list. 
            // If it doesn't exist, or it's empty prepare an array
            $templates = wp_get_theme()->get_page_templates();
            if ( empty( $templates ) ) {
                    $templates = array();
            } 

            // New cache, therefore remove the old one
            wp_cache_delete( $cache_key , 'themes');

            // Now add our template to the list of templates by merging our templates
            // with the existing templates array from the cache.
            $templates = array_merge( $templates, $this->templates );

            // Add the modified cache to allow WordPress to pick it up for listing
            // available templates
            wp_cache_add( $cache_key, $templates, 'themes', 1800 );

            return $atts;

    } 

    /**
     * Checks if the template is assigned to the page
     */
    public function view_project_template( $template ) {

            global $post;

            if (!isset($this->templates[get_post_meta( 
                $post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true 
            )] ) ) {

                    return $template;

            } 

            $file = plugin_dir_path(__FILE__). get_post_meta( 
                $post->ID, '_wp_page_template', true 
            );

            // Just to be safe, we check if the file exist first
            if( file_exists( $file ) ) {
                    return $file;
            } 
            else { echo $file; }

            return $template;

    } 


}
add_action( 'plugins_loaded', array( 'PageTemplater', 'get_instance' ) );

Oto pełny samouczek ze szczegółami dotyczącymi tego, co się dzieje i dlaczego.