Created, written, and executive produced by Danny McBride, the HBO series The Righteous Gemstones follows the televangelist Gemstone family and their internal struggle over which of them will get to take over the megachurch from family patriarch Eli (John Goodman). Always under threat by outsiders who wish to destroy their empire, a mysterious figure from Eli’s past (Eric Roberts) with clearly questionable motives shows up, making the Gemstones wonder whether he’s friend or foe.
During this interview with Collider, co-stars Goodman and Roberts talked about what they most enjoyed about their Season 2 storyline, how much fun it is to make this show, exploring the dynamic between their characters, their characters’ best and worst qualities, doing the religious performance scenes, and whether viewers will have a better sense of who their characters really are, by the end of the season.
Collider: John, after such a big gap between Season 1 and Season 2, what were you most excited about getting to do with the second season?
JOHN GOODMAN: I was excited for people to see where Eli comes from. There’s a backstory. I didn’t have to be mourning my wife quite so much, as I did in the first season. It gave me something to do besides that. It was lovely to come back. We had a ball making Season 2.
Eric, what were you excited about, with the introduction of your character?
ERIC ROBERTS: I had it made because I have a character with lots of backstory, but it’s all backstory concerning John. We have a past history. So, I just got to follow John for the pacing and I got to play this great character.
John, what was it like for you to go through the whole experience of the season being shut down, and not knowing when or if you’d ever actually get to go back into production on this. After going through all that, do you appreciate actually getting to walk onto the set again the first day even more?
GOODMAN: Absolutely. I missed it. It gave the writers, though, a chance to really sharpen things up. But yeah, it made me more appreciative. We had a strict protocol that we followed, that worked out fine. After a while, we just forgot about it and got on with working. It was a ball to come back. We have a lot of fun off-camera and hopefully that translates to on-camera fun. It’s a great place to work. It’s really comfortable and fun. It’s exhausting, but it’s worth it.
Eric, how much were you actually told about who this character would be? Did you know his full arc going into the season, or were you still finding out what was happening with him, along the way?
ROBERTS: They told me less than nothing. They told me nothing. And then, when I got the part, they told me nothing. They just let me go. In fact, one of the first couple of days that I was shooting, it was one of the scenes where I find John, and they realized that they needed some violence in the scene that was not in the script, so the director asked me to improvise. He told me what he wanted me to do and had me do it, right there on the spot. It was not in the script. That was all done last minute by one of the directors being on top of it and knowing that they were gonna have to have that flavor. They had to see it. It’s that kind of group. Everybody is very accessible, approachable, and creative. It’s just wonderful.
Eric, you’ve been in this business for a while. Is it nice, when you join a group like that, where you’re not fully sure what you’re doing, but you know that you can trust them and they also want to hear from you?
ROBERTS: And not because we’re discussing it now, but because it is a fact, I haven’t had this much fun of being a part of a group since 1982, and that was Bob Fosse’s group. Those guys and I really bonded. It’s the same thing with this group. This group is so smart and so kind and so professional and so experienced that everybody just holds hands all day long.
John, what was it like for you to get to explore the dynamic between your characters with Eric Roberts, especially as his character brings out different sides of Eli that we haven’t seen before?
GOODMAN: Thank God, he brought them out. That was fun because I was used to being a static character in mourning. It was fun to actually break that pattern and delve into the past. We got to explore a lot of where he comes from and things that he’d forgotten. He basically brings the character of Eli to life.
Eli is breaking some thumbs this season, and if you’re going to have a trademark, that’s an interesting and memorable trademark to have. At the same time, when it becomes more personal and bleeds into his family, how does that affect his relationship with Kelvin? Does it create even more tension?
GOODMAN: There’s always been tension there. Kelvin is trying to find his own way and there’s a lot of resentment of his brother and sister. Eli has to be mature enough to accept that for what it is, although it pushes Eli’s buttons.
We hear it mentioned, a couple of different times in this season, that Eli is emotionally cold. Do you feel like he loves his kids? Does he love his kids equally? Does he feel like any of them are more capable than any of the others? Is he just trying to encourage them, in his own way?
GOODMAN: It’s hard because the mother was with them while Eli was trying to carve out what he thinks of as an empire. The kids were ignored and, as a consequence, they were spoiled rotten. They were given things that Eli would’ve never dreamed of, as a kid. He doesn’t understand Kelvin, and he doesn’t have time to understand him.
Eric, you’ve been working in this business and consistently working in a variety of projects where you’re in and out with various casts. When you join something like this, do you get nervous? Is it just exciting when you come into a job like this? Are you someone who always gets nervous when you start a new project?
ROBERTS: I haven’t been nervous for about 30 years, up until this project. This project made me nervous because it was so good and everybody was so good in their jobs, both in front of and behind the camera. Everybody was a pro and I walked into this being new, so it was like the first day of school where everybody else knows each other, but you. I got very intimidated. Somebody who really gave me comfort, just because of how she is, was Edi [Patterson]. Edi made me happy to be breathing, every day that I was with her. Edi is a magnificent human and, as you see, a magnificent actor.
John, you’ve been in a few ensemble working families, with your family on The Conners, your family on The Righteous Gemstones, and your Monsters, Inc. family. What do you enjoy about working with ensembles and getting to really explore with such a big cast of really different people?
GOODMAN: It’s a chance to work with talented people. That doesn’t come along every day. It’s a feeling of being very fortunate to be where you’re at and keeping your ears open. You wanna be on top of your game with these guys. That’s not pressure. It’s just wanting to join in on the fun. You wanna play too. That’s one of the reasons I’m still doing it, after all these years. It’s a chance to work with great people, and to watch and listen to them. That really makes it fun.
Were you surprised that you also have a little bit of a murder mystery going on this year?
GOODMAN: I was surprised. That’s a whole other level.
I never could have imagined an episode of The Righteous Gemstones where everyone is slipping around in blood because somebody has been murdered and it’s just a mess of a crime scene, and yet it somehow works.
GOODMAN: And I was slipping around in blood for different reasons, due to a grooming error.
When you got these scripts, was there ever anything where you thought, “How am I going to do that? Why is my character doing this?,” or is it all just fun?
ROBERTS: For me, it’s all just fun.
GOODMAN: You jump in with both feet.
For both of you, what is your character’s best quality, and what do you think their worst quality is?
ROBERTS: My character’s best quality is his love for John’s character, and his worst quality is everything else.
GOODMAN: Eli’s best quality is his blind love for his children and his faith, which is the only thing that gets improved, along with money. And his worst quality is his blindness when it comes to acquisitions and power.
John, what’s it like to do the religious performance scenes? Could you ever have imagined that you’d be in a role where you would be something of a rock star, in that sense?
GOODMAN: I never thought I’d be a professional wrestler, but that was my ambition when I was about eight years old. I’m glad those scenes look like bigger scenes because we shifted a lot of people around to make them look that way (due to COVID). It’s fun to preach. I never thought I’d ever be doing that, but I like it.
What was it like to do the baptism scene, where Eli baptizes BJ?
GOODMAN: It got cold after a while. It was great. It was great to watch and see what they came up with, as far as the design goes. It was really cool looking. It’s just nice to go to work and be amazed by what people have done.
You guys are working with a lot of funny people on this show and you're also pretty funny yourselves. When you’re working with people like that and you’re in the moment, does it feel like everyone is coming at it from the same place because everybody wants it to be the best that it can be, or does everyone approach comedy a little bit differently?
GOODMAN: Everyone has a different approach, certainly, but we all want the same thing. We pick up on each other pretty well and we all want to achieve the same thing, which is to tell the story the best way we can.
ROBERTS: Yeah, we’re all working out of the same clubhouse.
Eric, did you have to find your groove among everyone else, or was it just really natural?
ROBERTS: I can give you an example. There was a scene where we were all eating together and we all had dialogue, and you see all of us for exactly what we are. That was just magnificent. Those actors being that good makes me be my very best, and it’s so much fun.
Will we have a better sense of who both of these men are and what their history is, by the end of this season?
ROBERTS: Of course, we will.
GOODMAN: Yeah, sure. It resolves nicely. There’s a lot of love between these guys and it shows. The relationship that we have off-camera is also very respectful and very loving, and that shows. It’s very fortunate when that happens. It’s a nice relationship and it unfolds very well.
Eric, how do you think viewers will feel about your character, once the season is done?
ROBERTS: I hope he irritates everybody into immense interest. That’s what he’s for.
The Righteous Gemstones airs on Sunday nights on HBO and is available to stream at HBO Max.