‘The Righteous Gemstones’: Danny McBride on Crafting Bradley Cooper-Led Civil War-Set Family Origin Story (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 Episode 1, “Prelude.”]

The Righteous Gemstones kicked off its fourth and final season with an origin story episode to end all origin story episodes as the HBO comedy explored the early beginnings of the Gemstone family’s roots in religion and preaching with “Prelude.”

If you haven’t tuned in yet, we’d advise doing so now as we delve into some major spoilers regarding the Civil War-set installment. As fans have known for many seasons, the Gemstones, particularly siblings Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine), aren’t above some shady behavior despite the godly air around them.

Well, it turns out that the apple doesn’t fall too far from their ancestor Elijah Gemstone (played by surprise guest star Bradley Cooper), a swindler and runaway criminal who crosses paths with a minister named Abel Grieves (fellow guest star Josh McDermitt). When Elijah realizes how much money the minister is able to collect from churchgoers, he accuses the man of unrighteous behavior.

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Their verbal debate turns deadly when Elijah pulls out his gun, shooting the minister in the head and pocketing the coins and cash from the church collection. But a knock on the door sobers him real quick as Confederate soldiers seek the minister out to join them on their trek to Fredericksburg. Apparently, the minister had been assigned to serve as a chaplain for that particular division of soldiers.

Asking if the gig pays, Elijah is easily swayed by the fifty-dollars-a-month promise, along with free meals. Turning back to address the dead body in the church, Elijah places his coat on Grieves, bashing the man’s head in with the collection dish and writing a note hinting that the corpse belonged to Elijah so he could pose as Grieves.

Of course, a man like that doesn’t let his old habits die easily as he engages in gambling and other debauched behavior on the road and at camp as the chaplain, even going so far as to kill another man. It’s not until Elijah finds himself in the crosshairs that he begins to see things differently. On the road, he and other soldiers are attacked by Union soldiers who take them prisoner.

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When one of the Union men discovers a bible on Elijah, he learns he’s going to be spared as they don’t kill “men of the cloth.” So, Elijah is tasked with delivering a final prayer for his captured cohorts before they’re killed by the firing squad. Moved by his circumstance, Elijah collects the bodies and returns them to the base where he reveals he was saved by god, thus solidifying the Gemstone family’s position on religion moving forward.

Danny McBride, who directed the installment he co-wrote with John Carcieri and Jeff Fradley, tells TV Insider, “One thing that’s been a lot of fun with creating Gemstones is just keeping the audience on their toes and not settling into a formula as much as you can.” This episode certainly surprises, as you never see any of the present-day Gemstones onscreen in this first chapter of the final season.

“That’s very hard with television when it’s episode after episode,” McBride continues. “It’s definitely hard to not fall into a rhythm. And so the idea of starting this last season with something unexpected that way, and [to]… show the audience a glimpse of where it all started… I thought would be a fun challenge and fun to pull off as far as what it does in the story.”

As McBride puts it, “It’s not always the perfect person [who] is chosen to spread the word,  a lot of times its imperfect people that are chosen to spread that word… Anyone can find their way if they want to, and that’s sort of what happens with Bradley’s character… He rises to the occasion,” McBride notes. Can Elijah’s descendants do the same? That’s the big question that looms as we look ahead to the upcoming episodes.

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“The Gemstones are so about all of this bluster and bigness and showmanship,” McBride says. “I just felt like it was a nice symmetry to show if they’ve actually learned anything on the course of these four seasons.”

Despite not appearing in the episode as Gemstone family uncle, Baby Billy, star Walton Goggins and frequent collaborator of McBride’s couldn’t sing his friend’s praises anymore, telling us, “This isn’t hyperbole… I read that [script] very early in the process… [Danny] said, ‘I want your opinion about this.’ He didn’t tell me what it was about… I read it and I was weeping,” Goggins says of his initial reaction to the premiere episode.

“It just spoke to me on such a deep level and I just think [Danny]’s our national treasure, and one of the most talented people we have in this space,” Goggins concluded. He’s a real gem indeed. To hear more from McBride, watch the full video, above, and stay tuned for more Gemstones shenanigans as Season 4 unfolds on HBO in the weeks ahead.

The Righteous Gemstones, Season 4, Sundays, 10/9c, HBO and Max