The Righteous Gemstones

The Righteous Gemstones is an American black comedy television series created by Danny McBride that premiered on August 18, 2019, on HBO. The series follows a famous yet dysfunctional family of televangelists. It stars McBride, John Goodman, Edi Patterson, Adam DeVine, Cassidy Freeman, Tony Cavalero, Tim Baltz, Skyler Gisondo, and Walton Goggins. In September 2019, HBO renewed the series for a second season.
Premise.
"The Righteous Gemstones" centers on a family of televangelists and megachurch pastors led by widowed patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). Eli and his bickering children, Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam DeVine), live opulent lifestyles funded by their congregations' tithing, and work to expand their network of megachurches, making enemies of the pastors of existing churches, such as Rev. John Wesley Seasons (Dermot Mulroney). This expansion leads them to reconnect with Eli's estranged brother-in-law, "Baby" Billy Freeman (Walton Goggins), whom they tap to lead their newest church.
The first season also focuses on a blackmail plot orchestrated against Jesse by a trio of masked figures who threaten to expose videos of his lecherous private life, hatched by Jesse's estranged son, Gideon (Skyler Gisondo).
Production.
Development.
On June 28, 2018, it was announced that HBO had given the production a pilot order. The episode was written and directed by Danny McBride who is also executive producer alongside Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. On October 2, 2018, it was reported that HBO had given the production a series order.
On July 1, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on August 18, 2019. On September 9, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season.
McBride has said he intends the series to run "longer than anything we've done before," including the four-season "Eastbound & Down" and the two-season "Vice Principals." "If I had my way, when this is done, it’s like this epic, sprawling tale, like the fucking "Thorn Birds "or something," he told "Polygon". "You’ll know everybody in this family, cousins, great uncles, all these people. In my eyes, this season is chapter one. It’s just setting the table for who all these people are and what’s about to happen."""
Casting.
Alongside the pilot order announcement, it was confirmed that Danny McBride and John Goodman would star in the pilot. In July 2018, it was announced that Edi Patterson, Adam DeVine, Cassidy Freeman, Tony Cavalero, and Tim Baltz had also joined the pilot's main cast. In May 2021, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Roberts and Eric Andre were joined the cast in recurring roles for second season.
Filming.
Principal photography for the pilot was completed in August 2018 in Charleston, South Carolina at Citadel Mall. The North Charleston Coliseum served as the interior of Gemstone Ministries, while a former Sears store at Citadel Mall was re-purposed into the Locust Grove Worship Center. (The new church being a former Sears was kept and referenced in the series). In April 2021, HBO confirmed the second season had gone into production.
Release.
On December 24, 2018, a "first look" still image from the series was released featuring Danny McBride, John Goodman, and Adam DeVine as Jesse Gemstone, Eli Gemstone, and Kelvin Gemstone, respectively. The series premiered on HBO on August 18, 2019.
Reception.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 75% approval rating with an average rating of 7.09/10, based on 64 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "Though it may not win many new converts, fans of Danny McBride will find much to praise in "The Righteous Gemstones"s darkly hilarious pews." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 67 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".