'The Righteous Gemstones' Renewed For Fourth Season At HBO

The entertainment industry is at a near standstill at the moment due to the ongoing labor strikes by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

However, it still looks like HBO is still ready to hand out some new season renewals for some hit shows to return once the strikes are finally resolved. The premium cable network announced this week that the hit comedy series, "The Righteous Gemstones," has been renewed for a fourth season.

HBO handed the renewal ahead of the show's third season finale, which debuts on Sunday, July 30. The series is created by Danny McBride, and Season 3 consists of nine episodes.

McBride also stars in the hit series as Jesse Gemstone part of the world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charity work. After the spoiled children of the Gemstone family are granted their wish to take control of the Church, they find leadership is harder than they imagined, and their extravagant lifestyles come with a heavy price.

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The show also stars Adam Devine as Kelvin Gemstone, John Goodman as Eli Gemstone, Edi Patterson as Judy Gemstone, Cassidy Freeman as Amber Gemstone, Tim Baltz as BJ, Tony Cavalero as Keefe Chambers, Greg Alan Williams as Martin Imari, Skyler Gisondo as Gideon Gemstone, Walton Goggins as Baby Billy Freeman, Jennifer Nettles as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone, Iliza Shlesinger as Shay Marigold, and Casey Wilson as Kristy.

Per HBO, the series averaged 4.9 million viewers for Season 3, with the show expected to reach a viewership high. It is also McBride's most-watched HBO series to date, topping the fan-favorite "Eastbound and Down," which ran from 2009 to 2013, and "Vice Principals," which ran from 2016-2017. The aforementioned shows averaged 4.2 million viewers and 4.8 million viewers during their respective runs.

Speaking on the announcement via a press release, HBO Programming and Head of HBO & Max Comedy Series Amy Gravitt stated, on the announcement, "Get ready for more of the hilarious adrenaline ride that is THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES.  As this truly biblical season comes to a close on Sunday night, I am delighted to announce that we are picking up a fourth season."

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McBride serves as creator, executive producer, and writer for the series. McBride has also directed multiple episodes for the series, along with Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. John Carcieri, Jeff Fradley, and Brandon James also serve as executive producers, with Jonathan Watson co-executive producing the show. It's produced by David Brightbill, with Kevin Barnett, Edi Patterson, and Chris Pappas serving as consulting producers.

With WGA and SAG-AFTRA currently on strike, that means HBO won't be able to start production on Season 4 until the strikes are resolved. The WGA has been on strike since early May. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA declared its strike against the AMPTP on July 14. Major productions have been forced to shut down or put on pause due to the ongoing strike issues, and actors are also not able to promote any of their current or upcoming shows under the current union guidelines.

The good news for "The Righteous Gemstones" is that it's about to go on its expected hiatus due to the Season 3 finale, so some episodes were still in the can while the strikes were happening. However, the strikes still mean that McBride won't be able to begin writing Season 4 until it's over and done with.

All three seasons of "The Righteous Gemstones" are available to stream now on MAX.