Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Righteous Gemstones Season 4.
Although Danny McBride has had a significant level of success on HBO due to his work on both Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals, The Righteous Gemstones is a far more ambitious project with a greater ensemble and more cutting-edge satire. Centered around a powerful family of televangelists that control their own megachurch, The Righteous Gemstones explores the power struggle between siblings Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin Gemstone (Adam Devine) as they vie for the love and attention of their father, Eli (John Goodman). Although McBride has made it clear that he has a definitive ending in mind for the show as its fourth season wraps up, The Righteous Gemstones has the potential to continue as a prequel series set before the events of the main show.
Throughout each season of The Righteous Gemstones, there have been “Interlude” episodes that explore the events in Eli’s life involving his wife, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles), prior to her death. Although these episodes help to set up things like fun conflicts with Aimee-Leigh’s brother, Baby Billy (Walton Goggins), the latest installment, “Interlude IV,” prominently features younger versions of Jesse (J. Gavin Wilde), Judy (Emma Shannon), and Kelvin (Tristan Borders), as well as Jesse’s wife, Amber (Keely Marshall) and family friend Cory (Sean Ryan Fox). A prequel to The Righteous Gemstones could expand the series in a natural way, as there are still many unanswered questions about how the characters changed in the years leading up to the pilot.
‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Has Already Set Up a Prequel Series Through Previous Episodes
One of the reasons that The Righteous Gemstones has been so rewarding is that it explores how the dysfunctional family slowly begins to set aside their issues with one another and have compassion, even if it is difficult, given their inflated egos. Although it has been emotionally satisfying to see how Jesse, Kelvin, and Judy have accepted that they need each other and joined forces to face off with rival families, a prequel to The Righteous Gemstones could explore a far more combative period within their adolescence. “Interlude IV” hints at the existential issues that each of them is facing at the time; Jesse is struggling with the responsibilities that come with being a young father, Judy is trying to determine what role she should play within the family empire, and Kelvin is wrestling with his sexuality.
The “Interlude” episodes already include many of the regular cast members of The Righteous Gemstones, as they primarily focus on the relationship between Eli and Aimee-Leigh. While the death of Aimee-Leigh is a tragedy that unites all the characters in the show, it would be interesting to see what her last days really looked like and how they shaped Eli’s behavior. The excellence of the makeup in The Righteous Gemstones would make it feasible to bring back Goodman and Nettles to play the younger versions of their characters, but it would also give more room for Goggins, who had to wear extensive old-age makeup in order to transform into Baby Billy. Goggins is the greatest television actor working today, and it’s impressive to see what wild shenanigans Baby Billy gets to on a weekly basis; a prequel that examines how he came up with his various schemes could give Goggins room to unpack the motivations behind the show’s funniest character.
“Interlude IV” also proves that the young cast is capable of leading the show, as they are able to portray the younger versions of Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin in a way that doesn’t just feel like impersonations of the main ensemble. While Wilde captures the boastful, outspoken ego that makes McBride’s performance as Jesse so memorable, he portrays a far less mature version who has yet to become a leader within the church; even though Jesse is often a bumbling buffoon, he does hold a position of power and influence in the church, and is entrusted by Eli to continue the family legacy. His dynamic with Amber could be particularly interesting in a prequel, as Marshall shows a much different side to Jesse’s wife than what Cassidy Freeman depicts in the main show; although Amber eventually utilizes her position to become just as powerful as Jesse, her adolescence is more stressful, given that she becomes a mother to Gideon (Skyler Gisondo) at a very young age.
Related” If anybody smiles at me ever again, I’m going to freak out.”
A ‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Prequel Series Could Explore the Origins of the Family’s Empire
The Righteous Gemstones could also introduce more of the show’s main characters in a prequel whose backstories have been kept under wraps. Although the marriage between Judy and BJ (Tim Baltz) is easily one of the funniest aspects of the show, it’s never been fully explained how two completely different people fell in love with each other; Judy is very aggressive and defiant, whereas BJ is kind and often quite sensitive. Similarly, the backstory surrounding Keefe (Tony Cavalero) is also quite mysterious; while it’s been explained that Kelvin helped to rehabilitate him after he became involved in a Satanic cult, seeing the early signs of their romantic connection with one another could help deconstruct one of the show’s most complex relationships.
The Righteous Gemstones even has the potential to lean into a different form of satire based on the historical period in which a prequel would take place, as “Interlude IV” is set in 2002. The next decade would see the rise of Bush-era patriotism, the financial recession, the expansion of social media outlets, and more public disputes about the role of religion in civil society, all of which could inspire interesting storylines in The Righteous Gemstones. Given that the show was already able to make an excellent prequel episode set during the Civil War, it’s easy to imagine that an entire series set within a more recent period in history would have the potential to provide even more thought-provoking insight. The Righteous Gemstones has set up a finale that should wrap up the core narrative that McBride had intended to tell from the beginning, but that doesn’t mean that the Gemstone family doesn’t have a future on television.
New episodes of The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 premiere Sundays on HBO and Max.
Release Date
2019 – 2025-00-00
Network
HBO
Showrunner
Danny McBride
Directors
Danny McBride
Writers
Scott MacArthur
