[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 4 of The Righteous Gemstones.]
Created, written and executive produced byDanny McBride, theHBOseriesThe Righteous Gemstones, currently in its fourth and final season, follows the celebrity televangelist family who may bicker constantly, but who also love each other and have each other’s backs through anything and everything, no matter how wild the idea. And throughout it all, Jesse Gemstone (McBride) and his wife Amber (Cassidy Freeman) are stronger than ever as a support system for each other, defenders of all things Gemstones, and the backbone for their own kids.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars McBride and Freeman talked about how difficult it was to say goodbye to these characters and their world, their love for each other and this cast, the tears that came when they wrapped their final scene, that mischievous monkey, what led McBride to end the series with Season 4, and whether there could ever been anAvengersstyle team-up of all of McBride’s HBO characters.
Danny McBride Wasn’t Entirely Sure That Season 4 Would Be the End of ‘The Righteous Gemstones’
“I was keeping myself open to the idea that, if it felt like there was more to do, I wouldn’t be strict about finishing it.”
Collider: Danny, you previously told me that you set this series up as a bigger, richer world that you felt would be fun to keep digging into and that you didn’t necessarily go into this with a set endpoint. So, why was this the right time to end the series and say goodbye to these characters?
DANNY McBRIDE: It was very, very difficult to arrive at that conclusion. I honestly love working with all these people so much and have had such a fantastic time making the show. But when I was writing the season, I felt thatall the story ideas that I was having were aiming towards conclusionand aiming towards wrap-up and growth and moving forward, so I just followed that. Even as we shot, I was keeping myself open to the idea that, if it felt like there was more to do, I wouldn’t be strict about finishing it. But as the story percolated and came to be and we shot it, it just felt like it was the time. It felt like it was saying what it needed to say.
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What was it like for each of you to say goodbye to these characters? This seems like it was just so much fun and that these are characters in a world and a family that there’s no way you won’t miss it.
CASSIDY FREEMAN: Yeah, it was really hard to say goodbye. As I’m reflecting,there was never a moment that I didn’t give it all to Amber and Amber didn’t give it all to the story, and everyone probably feels that way about their character. The fact that, every day, we were encouraged to go far beyond the norm, or just to keep growing as characters, and to put it all out on the court. It feels like a job well done. Even though, of course, I’ll miss her, it feels really full of gratitude.
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Danny, does it feel different to say goodbye to this character compared to all the other ones you’ve done on all the other HBO shows?
McBRIDE: You know, it does. WhenEastboundwas done, I was really ready to be done with it. I loved making that show, but we were originally planning on that being done after the third season. And so, when we came back for the fourth, it was like, “Here’s one more round with him.” AndVice Principals, we shot to be done. We created a closed story, and we did that. When we finishedVice Principals, I was a little like, “Shit, should I have kept that story open?” But I enjoyed the finality of it. I felt like it made the story more impactful, that it wasn’t just going to be a formula that was going to come back, again and again. With this, I just tried to follow my gut with it, with where the story was going and what was happening. I’ve loved making this show. It’s been so much fun. But all things have to end. This reaching a finale gives a greater context to the story as a whole.With television, it’s so hard to keep your eye on the ball when the goal is just to come back season after season after season. Sometimes you may neglect the story, just to keep going, and I didn’t want that to happen withGemstones. I never wanted to sleepwalk through this job. I wanted every season to matter, and never to have phoned one in.
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If you create and do another HBO series, have you considered creating an episode where you could just keep showing up as all these different characters that you’ve played?
McBRIDE: TheAvengersversion.
FREEMAN: All on the screen at the same time. That’s so good.
It would be so fun to see how they would all react to each other.
McBRIDE: They would kill each other.
There Were a Lot of Tears on the Last Day of Shooting ‘The Righteous Gemstones’
“As we got closer to wrap time, it really was starting to feel weird.”
What was the last day of this last season like? Were you all together for the end?
McBRIDE: Randall Ehrmann, our assistant director, who’s been the AD on the whole show, was very smart with his scheduling. The last scene was actually the scene in episode eight where the monkey jacks off at church lunch. That was the very last thing we shot, and around the table were all the people that were there from the very beginning. It’s so difficult to make the show, especially when you care. Every day is just trying to get it right and being worried about it not going right or not getting what you imagined. The stress of that can sometimes be overwhelming. And every day matters.
Even though it was the last day, it was still an important scene that we were doing. I remember us getting halfway through the scene and Greg Alan, who plays Martin, came up to me right before lunch and was like, “I just want to say how much this has meant to me,” and instantly, I was like, “Oh, shit, I’m going to start crying.” And then, I started to realize, “Oh, God, this is going to be so much harder than what I was anticipating it being.” As we got closer to wrap time, it really was starting to feel weird. It was just feeling like, “This is happening really fast.”The moment we wrapped was beautiful.It was a beautiful moment where you’re looking around at all these people that you’ve become great friends with, and you just feel like you accomplished something together.
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Cassidy, are you someone who cries at the end of something, or do you cry if other people cry? Are you good with holding it together?
FREEMAN: I started to feel it with the last couple of takes. I started realizing, “Oh, this might be the last time I walk back to my chair.” Edi [Patterson] and I both were feeling it, and we were trying not to look at each other or talk about it. And then, Danny stood up to give a speech after the last cut, and mind you it was three in the morning, so we were all a little loopy anyway, andwe were watching a monkey attempt to jack offfor a while, and succeed, and a wave came over me. Danny actually said, “I’m not going to look at anyone because I don’t want to cry.” And then, of course, he looked at me, and I was just a mess. So, yeah, I cried. I cry easily. It was just so much gratitude and so much emotion around what a great time we’d all been having. It was about just being happy for that.
The Righteous Gemstones
Follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work.
The Righteous Gemstonesairs on HBO and is available to stream on Max. Check out the Season 4 trailer:
