‘Righteous Gemstones’ Recruits A-List Actor for Surprise Family Member Role

HBO’s hit comedy The Righteous Gemstones is no stranger to punching above its weight when it comes to guest stars, with household names like Macaulay Culkin, Eric Andre, and Sturgill Simpson playing supporting characters throughout the series. But the premiere of the final season on Sunday led to their biggest guest yet.

The episode begins with a cold open in 1862 Virginia during a minister’s sermon, where preacher starts discussing the Civil War and reveals he’s a supporter of the Confederate Army—likely a bait-and-switch move on the part of series creator Danny McBride to make the audience uncomfortable with the idea that this might be a Gemstone ancestor.

After the sermon, a man stands up and tells the pastor he doesn’t sound “very righteous,” the camera shifts, and the man is… Bradley Cooper?! Audiences barely have time to process Cooper’s surprise appearance before he shoots the Confederate-supporting minister dead and robs his corpse.

As he’s doing so, a Confederate Army general arrives and Cooper’s character is forced to pretend to be the minister. The general tells Cooper he’s been conscripted as their unit’s chaplain, so he hastily returns to the dead body and swaps identities with the dead preacher. He reveals his name as Elijah Gemstone, and thus the saga of America’s favorite foul-mouthed megachurch family begins.

It’s another out-of-left-field turn for the series, which prides itself on constantly surprising audiences and doing the unexpected. Especially in an era of constant Internet leaks, seeing an A-list star like Cooper take on a starring role and not have it spoiled beforehand was a shock to audiences nationwide. McBride told THR he was surprised they were able to recruit Cooper to the series.

“I never thought we’d get a guy of his stature to wear a period piece wool costume in 90 degree weather for 10 days straight,” McBride said. “And for no money.”

Audiences on social media highly praised the episode. One user on Twitter/X said of the series “no one else is doing it like this. the last soldier in the peak television war. the best damn show on tv by a mile.” Another said Cooper’s appearance was “just so creative and unique,” and that Gemstones “continues to be one of the best shows on television.” Yet another wrote “Bradley Cooper’s going to get an Emmy for The Righteous Gemstones was not something I woke up thinking today, but here we are.”

The Righteous Gemstones airs Sundays at 10 PM on HBO.