The Righteous Gemstones Season 4: How did the Makers Convince Bradley Cooper to star in the show?

The Righteous Gemstones' season 4 premiere confused many fans because it took viewers back to 1862 instead of beginning with the present day. Season 4 episode 1 of the televangelist comedy, Prelude, plays out like a Civil War film, and who is the lead? Bradley Cooper!

The actor played an ancestor of the Gemstones, and the episode was about his journey from a crook who would do anything for money to becoming a pastor. The divine intervention that changed his life also charted the career path for the next few generations of the family. 

But how did the show convince a movie star like Cooper to sign off for a whole episode? Danny McBride, who created the show, and also plays the elder Gemstone sibling Jesse, explained how this came to be. 

How did Bradley Cooper play a Gemstone? 

Danny McBride revealed how they landed on the idea to hire Bradley Cooper for their opening standalone episode during a panel after the March 5 premiere of The Righteous Gemstones. He said:

“It was like, it needs to be somebody that has some real charisma and charm to pull off this turn with this character, someone that the audience won’t mind going on this journey with, and somebody that can hold the entire thing on their own shoulders. And I think I just threw away, flippantly, somebody like Bradley Cooper. And Brandon was like, well, we should just ask him.” (via Deadline)

As for why Bradley Cooper specifically, he explained, “There are so many incredible actors here that the audience is showing up for, and to invite the audience back after the show’s been off for a little bit and to show up and not be any of these beautiful faces, it just had to be somebody who was more beautiful than all of us.”

When they sent Cooper the script, he responded quickly and positively. Even though he hadn’t seen the show, he still wanted to star in it. In fact, the actor didn’t watch the show until shooting was finished because he didn’t want it to influence his take on the character. 

This isn’t the first collaboration between McBride and Cooper, as they have worked together previously in the 2015 film Aloha. Also, before Cooper became a movie star (thanks majorly due to The Hangover), he starred in his own TV show, the Fox comedy Kitchen Confidential. 

But he has stayed away from TV since, so this appearance marks his biggest TV role in a decade. But how did the makers come up with the idea to take audiences back to the 19th century? McBride said it’s because they wanted to push the envelope instead of following the formula. He explained in an interview with People magazine: 

“That was part of it as we were going for this last season — I wanted to push ourselves to not fall into formula and routine. There was something interesting about starting this season with something that goes so far back in time and shows you a glimpse of maybe how it all began.”

The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiered on March 9. It airs every Sunday at 10 PM on HBO and Max.