After a long pandemic delay, The Righteous Gemstones is finally heading back to HBO for a second season, which will premiere on January 9th with a double episode. The series about a world-famous televangelist family and their life of charitable work, deviance and greed will follow the double debut with new 30 minute episodes each Sunday and will also be available to stream on HBO Max. A new teaser for the series was released by HBO and brings us right back into the bosom of the family as they continue to grow their empire.
The Righteous Gemstones stars Danny McBride, who also created, writes and executively produces the series, and is his third comedy on HBO in conjunction with Rough House Pictures. Regular collaborators Jody Hill and David Gordon Green are also on board as executive producers and directors. Along with McBride’s Jesse Gemstone, others returning for the new season are Adam Devine (Pitch Perfect) as Kelvin Gemstone, Edi Patterson (Vice Principals) as Judy Gemstone, John Goodman (Treme) as Eli Gemstone, Cassidy Freeman (Longmire) as Amber Gemstone, Tony Cavalero (School of Rock) as Keefe Chambers, Tim Baltz (Drunk History) as BJ, Skyler Gisondo (Booksmart) as Gideon Gemstone and Greg Alan Williams (Greenleaf) as Martin Imari.
Season 1 of the show introduced the family led by Goldman’s Eli Gemstone, who, with his immature offspring, lead lives funded by donations made to the church. As they expand their empire of megachurches, they gain a number of enemies who want to bring the family down. It looks like this is only going to continue in the new season, with threats from the past and present converging on the family, threatening to expose their misuse of the charitable donations made to their churches.
When the series was renewed for a second season, McBride made it clear that he sees the show having a long life ahead of it, having said back in 2019 that he intends it to run the series longer than any of his previous offerings including the four season run of Eastbound and Down. At the time he said, “If I had my way, when this is done, it’s like this epic, sprawling tale, like the f–king 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.”
The first season of The Righteous Gemstones picked up a decent 75% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the general consensus that “it may not win any new converts but fans of Danny McBride will find much to praise The Righteous Gemstones’ darkly hilarious pews.” Considering McBride tends to find his level and stick to it, don’t expect too much to change in the second season of the show. You can catch up on the first season on HBO Max ahead of the new episodes arriving at the turn of the year.
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