The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiered on HBO on March 9, 2025. The Danny McBride-created black comedy has been a hit since it premiered in August 2019. After a successful run, season 4 is the final season and brings the shenanigans of the Gemstone family to an end. Like the other seasons before it, The Righteous Gemstones season 4 has 9 episodes, with the finale airing on May 4, 2025.
The Righteous Gemstones centers around the Gemstone family, a wealthy, corrupt, and dysfunctional group of televangelists who run a megachurch. While the Gemstones project an image of piety and righteousness to their congregation, they’re deeply involved in unethical activities, including greed, manipulation, and scandal. With what already alludes to be the show’s best season yet, The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiere introduces twelve-time Oscar-nominated actor and filmmaker Bradley Cooper.
Bradley Cooper Leads the Episode’s Cast as Elijah Gemstone
The Righteous Gemstones is no stranger to flashbacks, especially having an episode dedicated to it each season. However, unlike the “Interlude” episodes (often the fifth episode of each season), The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiere (“Prelude”) begins with a flashback to the mid-1800s. Set during the American Civil War, the episode introduces Josh McDermitt’s character as Minister Abel Grieves, a clergy sympathetic to the Confederate cause and against the Northern aggression. After Minister Grieves’ sermon, he’s confronted by a man (Bradley Cooper) who appears to have slept in the church.
The man, later revealed to be Elijah Gemstone, kills Minister Grieves and steals the minister’s money and gold-plated Bible. He quickly assumes the identity of Minister Grieves after being confronted by Confederate soldiers outside the church. Although he successfully impersonates Minister Grieves, Elijah Gemstone is forced to kill a Confederate soldier who recognizes him from before the war and intends a partnership for a money-making opportunity.
However, he’s forced to find his faith in God after he’s captured, alongside other Confederate soldiers, by Union soldiers. He narrowly escapes being executed by firing squad after being spared as a preacher. After driving a cart full of the executed Confederate soldiers back to an outpost, he’s forced to reflect on his life. That night, he begins to read the Bible aloud, alluding to an origin story of how the Gemstone family became preachers.
The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 Premiere Introduced an Entirely New Cast
The season 4 premiere is currently dubbed the show’s riskiest episode, having an entirely new cast. The Righteous Gemstones’ cast and characters are a major reason the show has succeeded thus far. However, Danny McBride took a risk by making season 4 an origin story set in a period that features no major known cast. In the end, the move paid off as The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiere is arguably one of the show’s best episodes. In what has been considered a cameo appearance, Bradley Cooper’s Elijah Gemstone would not appear again in the show’s remaining episodes.
Besides Josh McDermitt, who briefly appeared at the start of the episode, audiences were introduced to several new and recognizable faces. Other notable cast members in the episode include Paul Schneider, Sean Bridgers, Owen Campbell, and James Landry Hébert. Other new cast members for the episode included Charles Halford, Alex Saxon, Ethan McDowell, and Lew Temple. Like Bradley Cooper, the episode’s new cast members would not return for the series, as season 4’s storyline reportedly has no plans to return to the 1800s.
The Season 4 Premiere Sets the Ball Rolling in What is Promised as the Show’s Best & Last Season
With all the chaos in season 3’s finale, audiences are eager to return to the normal timeline of patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman) and his immature children. The Righteous Gemstones season 4 would focus on the Gemstone kids, their personal lives and growth, as well as finally accepting and moving on after the death of their mother, Aimee-Leigh (Jennifer Nettles). Having finally embraced his homosexuality, audiences should expect a more mature Kelvin Gemstone (Adam DeVine). With his family’s support, having openly kissed Keefe Chambers (Tony Cavalero), Kelvin would do well to expand his Prism ministry.
However, it’s not all sanity in The Righteous Gemstones season 4, as audiences can expect insanity from their beloved characters. Many of the series cast returns in the finale, with Walton Goggins’ Baby Billy Freeman character expected to deliver a Christian-themed pop-rap tune. With a premiere as a flashback, fingers remain crossed with what the season’s fifth “Interlude” episode will be about. As the countdown to its finale continues, The Righteous Gemstones season 4 promises to be the show’s best season.
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