HBO is staying in the Danny McBride business. The network has given a series order to his new comedyThe Righteous Gemstones, which centers on a famous televangelist and his family who have a long history of deviance, greed and charitable work, all in the name of Jesus. McBride will star in the series alongside John Goodman as a father/son duo in the new half-hour comedy series which, at the present time, doesn’t have a premiere date.
John Goodmanplays the family patriarch Eli, who has built a massive global following thanks to his ministry and weekly TV show. Eli expects unquestioned loyalty from those around him, even though his power is fading. Danny McBride plays Jesse, Eli’s oldest son who is the heir apparent to his father’s throne. Jesse hopes to build on what his father has done and modernize it for today’s audiences.The Righteous Gemstoneswill also feature Edi Patterson (Vice Principals) and Adam Devine (Workaholics) as Eli’s other children, Judy and Kelvin. Other members of the cast include Cassidy Freeman (Longmire) as Amber, Jesse’s wife,Tony Cavalero (School of Rock) as Keefe Chambers, an ex-Satanist, Tim Baltz (Bajillion Dollar Properties) as Judy’s fiance BJ and GregAlan Williams (Greenleaf) as Martin Imari, a trusted advisor to Eli.
The plan is to shoot the series once John Goodman has wrapped up his commitments onThe Conners, the upcomingRoseannespin-off that is set to debut on ABC this fall, which will no longer feature Roseanne Barr, as her character is being killed off.Danny McBridewill be keeping himself very busy on the show. He’s credited with creatingThe Righteous Gemstonesand will also serve as executive producer, alongside his Rough House Pictures partners and frequent collaborators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. All three of them will be splitting up directing duties.
Danny McBride and David Gordon Green have been busy promoting the upcomingHalloween, which they wrote together, with Green directing. This also isn’t the first time that they’ve partnered with HBO. They worked together previously on the baseball comedyEastbound and Down, which aired from 2010 to 2013, as well asVice Principals, which ran for two seasons and concluded last year. The short run had nothing to do with a lack of interest by the network. Merely, they had a full story to tell that consisted of just two seasons.
At the present time, there isn’t word on how many episodes the first season ofThe Righteous Gemstoneswill consist of. But with HBO’s model, it should be between somewhere between eight and ten. In addition to announcing the series pickup, the network has released the first photo from the series, featuring the televangelist family gathered together. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more details on the series are made available. you may check out the photo from theHBO Twitteraccount for yourself below.
