When is 'The Righteous Gemstones' series finale? See Season 4 schedule
When is 'The Righteous Gemstones' series finale? See Season 4 schedule
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The most anticipated TV shows of 2025
USA TODAY TV critic Kelly Lawler shares her top 5 TV shows she is most excited for this year
This is the end.
The fourth and final season of HBO's "The Righteous Gemstones" will come to an end on May 4, as the series finale is set to close the Gemstone saga.
The show starring Danny McBride (Jesse Gemstone), Walton Goggins (Baby Billy Freeman) and John Goodman (Eli Gemstone) "tells the story of a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work," according to Warner Bros.
Ahead of the final episode, Danny McBride told the Associated Press that he hoped "religious people" would watch the series.
"A lot of people who come up to me, honestly, their first thing will be like, 'I go to church and I think it's funny,'" he told the Associated Press. "My hope honestly, with creating the show was that people who were religious would watch it. That, ultimately, they would understand that this isn't making fun of them, but it's probably making fun of people that they identify and are annoyed by."
Here's what you need to know about Season 4 of "The Righteous Gemstones."
How to watch 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4
The last episode of "The Righteous Gemstones" will premiere on HBO at 10 p.m. ET / PT on Sunday, and be available for streaming on Max at the same time they air on HBO.
Season 4 of "The Righteous Gemstones" began airing on March 9.
How can I subscribe to Max?
Max subscription plans begin at $9.99 a month with ads, while ad-free subscriptions cost $16.99 a month.
The highest tier, which is $20.99 a month, includes the ability to stream on four devices and offers 4K Ultra HD video quality and 100 downloads. HBO also offers bundles with Hulu and Disney+.
Watch The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 with Sling + Max
'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 episode schedule
Here's the full list of release dates for the Season 4 episodes of "The Righteous Gemstones":
Episode 1, "Prelude": March 9
Episode 2, "You Hurled Me Into the Very Heart of the Seas": March 16
Episode 3, "To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope": March 23
Episode 4, "He Goeth Before You Into Galilee": March 30
Episode 5, "You Shall Remember": April 6
Episode 6, "Interlude IV": April 13
Episode 7, "For Jealousy Is the Rage of a Man": April 20
Episode 8, "On Your Belly You Shall Go": April 27
Episode 9, "That Man of God May Be Complete": May 4
Watch the 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4 trailer
'The Righteous Gemstones' cast
John Goodman as Dr. Eli Gemstone
as Dr. Eli Gemstone Danny McBride as Jesse Gemstone
as Jesse Gemstone Adam Devine as Kelvin Gemstone
as Kelvin Gemstone Edi Patterson as Judy Gemstone
as Judy Gemstone Cassidy Freeman as Amber Gemstone
as Amber Gemstone Tim Baltz as BJ
as BJ Tony Cavalero as Keefe Chambers
as Keefe Chambers Gregory Alan Williams as Martin Imari
as Martin Imari Skyler Gisondo as Gideon Gemstone
as Gideon Gemstone Walton Goggins as Baby Billy Freeman/Baby Billy
as Baby Billy Freeman/Baby Billy Kelton DuMont as Pontius Gemstone
as Pontius Gemstone Gavin Munn as Abraham Gemstone
as Abraham Gemstone Jennifer Nettles as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you make a purchase through our links, we may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
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‘The Last of Us' Creator Neil Druckmann on Directing Pedro Pascal's Last Episode, That Pearl Jam Song and Catherine O'Hara's ‘Beautiful' Improvisation
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My life would have fucking mattered, but you took that from me!' Joel, sobbing now, is resigned to the consequences of his choices, but he doesn't regret them. 'If somehow I had a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again,' he says. 'Because I love you. In a way you can't understand.' There's a long silence. 'I don't think I can forgive you for this,' Ellie says. 'But I would like to try.' For anyone who has played 'The Last of Us Part II,' the timing of this breathtaking scene between Joel and Ellie is shocking, since it comes at the very end of the game, after far more has transpired for all of the characters. Druckmann explained to Variety why he, Mazin and Gross chose to move that scene so far up for the show. He also discussed what guided their thinking about the new scenes between Joel and Ellie on her birthdays, his emotional reaction to seeing locations from the game created in real life — and what happened when O'Hara disagreed with his direction for the scene in which Gail slaps Joel. We wanted this episode for Ellie to find out definitively that Joel lied. In the game, we did in a very different way, where she traveled all the way back to the hospital and found documentation. It felt like we would be stretching the reality of the world and how dangerous it is on the show compared to the game. But also, looking at documents and exploring that space, I don't know if that makes as compelling of a drama for a TV show. The engine for the show is a little different than the engine for an interactive experience. So that ultimately led to the whole Eugene sequence. Because we were spending more time in Jackson than we were in the game, we came up with way more ideas than what ended up in the show. But each one of those was vetted through this lens of the arc we wanted, where they start out in this much better place. They know there's a lie, but they're trying to move past it, and then this thing just weighs on them and their relationship. Each step you feel like it's pushing them apart. That was the most important thing that we needed out every sequence, to drill that home. It started with conversation in the game, which was, Joel is oblivious, and mistakes Ellie's friendship with Jesse for something more. I believe that's something Halley wrote — it's so long ago now, I forget. We really wanted to keep that here, and then take it a step further. He finds out [Ellie is gay] in the game when she kisses Dina on the dance floor. 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Sometimes you could buy the argument that the lie is better than the truth, right? But for Ellie, it wasn't, because of everything else that has come before, because she saw that he betrayed her trust. That meant more than just this moment, it meant that everything that Ellie was worried about, the survival guilt that she's felt all the way back to Season 1 of needing to justify Riley's death and Tessa's death and Henry and Sam and all these people who died along the way so that something good can come of it at the end. It's almost in that moment she realizes nothing good came out of it. That's not entirely true, but that's how she feels about it. So it was just important that all the actors knew the truth they're going into it, and for it to be genuinely shocking. If I may, I just want to sing Catherine O'Hara's praises. It was one of my favorite directing moments. In the scene, she slaps Joel, and then in his shame, he's supposed to take a few steps back. We were struggling with it. 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John Lithgow elicits respect, fear, and laughter in equal measure, having scored Emmys for three very different roles — as Winston Churchill on The Crown (2016–2019), the Trinity Killer on Dexter (2009), and Dick Solomon on sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun (1996–2001). He's also a two-time Oscar nominee for turns in The World According to Garp (1982) and Terms of Endearment (1983). Lithgow remains a compelling figure on film and TV, having recently appeared in Oscar-nominated movies like Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) and Conclave (2024), as well as FX's The Old Man (2022–2024). Lithgow plays Albus Dumbledore, the wise Hogwarts headmaster and founder of the Order of the Phoenix. Richard Harris originally portrayed Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films. After his death in 2002, Michael Gambon stepped into the role. Jude Law later played a younger version of the character in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Lithgow opened up about the role on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast. "You know, Dumbledore, he's kind of this nuclear weapon," Lithgow said. "He only goes off very, very occasionally. And I don't think it's gonna be that hard a job." The 79-year-old Lithgow went on to say that playing Dumbledore across seven or eight years is "a wonderful way to grow old as an actor," adding, "I mean, the alternative is to just be hauled out once a year to play an Alzheimer's patient [with] an awful lot of weeping middle-aged children, you know." British actor Paapa Essiedu cut his teeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company and found success on the small screen opposite Michaela Coel on the BBC's I May Destroy You (2020). He received Emmy and British Academy Television Award nominations for his performance, and went on to appear in series like Gangs of London (2020–2022), Black Mirror (2023), and Black Doves (2024) as well as the films Men (2022) and The Outrun (2024). Essiedu will play Severus Snape, the Slytherin anti-hero famously played by the late Alan Rickman. In a note to Rickman, Rowling called Snape "my most complex character." It will be interesting to see how Essiedu's Snape manifests in this telling, as the actor will come into the role knowing his full arc. Rickman, who was given a key piece of information about the character by Rowling before the rest of the cast, often spoke about how that helped shape his performance, telling the Los Angeles Times in 2011, "I was always aware of my place in the story even as others around me were not.' Janet McTeer is the recipient of a Golden Globe, a Tony, and an Olivier Award, as well as two Oscar nominations for her work in Tumbleweeds (1999) and Albert Nobbs (2011). Her other notable credits include the films Velvet Goldmine (1998), Maleficent (2014), and The Menu (2022), as well as series like Jessica Jones (2018) and Ozark (2018–2020). This year, you can see her on the Paramount+ series MobLand and sprinting alongside Tom Cruise in the upcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. McTeer plays Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts professor and head of Gryffindor House. The character is as loyal as she is strict, serving as a mentor while instilling a healthy fear in her students. Maggie Smith portrayed the character in the film franchise, while Fiona Glascott played a young Minerva in the Fantastic Beasts films. Nick Frost came up alongside his pal Simon Pegg on the comedy series Spaced (1999–2001) before appearing in films like Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013). He recently voiced droid SM-33 on the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew (2024–present), and will next appear in Disney's live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. The half-giant Hagrid is among the first characters we meet in the Harry Potter universe. A Hogwarts groundskeeper with a flowing brown beard, Hagrid was previously played by Robbie Coltrane, who died in 2022. Luke Thallon is a relative newcomer to the screen, with only a couple of small credits to his name. That said, he received rave reviews for his turn as Hamlet in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2025 production. He'll play Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Quirinus Quirrell, a key role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The role was portrayed by Ian Hart in the film franchise. BAFTA-winning performer Paul Whitehouse was a star and co-creator of the BBC comedy series The Fast Show (1994–1997), as well as a collaborator with popular comedian Harry Enfield. He's also appeared in several popular films, including Corpse Bride (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and The Death of Stalin (2017). Interestingly, Whitehouse previously played a role in the Harry Potter film franchise, having shot material for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that didn't make the final cut. He played Sir Cadogan, a knight who appears in a painting in Hogwarts' Divination corridor. In the Harry Potter TV series, Whitehouse will play Argus Filch, the feline-loving caretaker of Hogwarts. David Bradley played the role originally. Newcomer Lox Pratt is involved in two upcoming adaptations of iconic books. The first, obviously, is HBO's Harry Potter series. The second is a new take on William Golding's Lord of the Flies from Jack Thorne, the in-demand writer behind the buzzy 2025 Netflix series Adolescence. (In a fun coincidence, Thorne also wrote the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.) Pratt will play Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin bully who goes on to play a major role in the story. Draco was previously played by Tom Felton, who recently reprised the role for a Broadway run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Johnny Flynn is best known as the star of Netflix's Lovesick (2014–2018) and for his portrayal of David Bowie in 2020's Stardust. His other credits include the films Song One (2014) and Emma (2020), as well as the acclaimed Netflix series Ripley (2024). He'll next appear in Kate Winslet's upcoming directorial debut, Goodbye June. Flynn is also an accomplished musician, with six studio albums, multiple stage musicals, and several soundtracks under his belt. He serves as the lead singer and songwriter of Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit, which is among the most British band names we've ever heard. Related: Johnny Flynn on writing an original song for Emma and the Emma in his life The actor will play Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, one of the series' most malevolent characters. Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus) played Lucius in the original films. Katherine Parkinson is a two-time BAFTA winner for her turn as Jen Barber on The IT Crowd (2006–2013), as well as an Olivier Award nominee for the 2018 play Home, I'm Darling. Over the last decade, Parkinson led AMC's Humans (2015–2018) as Laura Hawkins, and starred on BBC series such as Defending the Guilty (2018–2019) and Here We Go (2022–present). Parkinson takes over the role of Weasley matriarch (and Hogwarts alum) Molly from Julie Walters. Bel Powley's screen career began on the CBBC series M.I. High (2007–2008). Her profile rose considerably when she starred opposite Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgård in Marielle Heller's The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015). The role earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination and the Trophée Chopard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Since then, she's appeared in films such as White Boy Rick (2018) and The King of Staten Island (2020), as well as series like The Morning Show (2019–2021) and Masters of the Air (2024). Powley plays Harry's cruel Muggle aunt, Petunia Dursley, a role originally played by Fiona Shaw. BAFTA winner Daniel Rigby broke out as a star of 2011's Eric and Ernie, a BBC TV movie about the early career of English comic duo Morecambe and Wise. He's been a familiar face on U.S. and U.K. television in the years since, appearing on series such as Jericho (2016), Sick Note (2017–2018), and Landscapers (2021). Parents may also recognize Rigby's voice from his gig as a narrator on Teletubbies (2015–2018). Rigby will next appear alongside Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer in Blade Runner 2099, Amazon Prime's miniseries sequel to Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 (2017). On the Harry Potter series, Rigby will play Harry's uncle, the magic-hating Vernon Dursley, previously played by Richard Griffiths. Bertie Carvel is a prolific stage performer with two Olivier Awards under his belt. He also played the key role of Banquo in Joel Coen's Oscar-nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). Carvel played Jonathan Strange on the BBC's acclaimed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell adaptation in 2015 and had leading roles on Doctor Foster (2015–2017) and Dalgliesh (2021–present). You may also recognize Carvel for playing former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair on The Crown (2022–2023). The actor will next appear as Baelor Targaryen on HBO's upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a Game of Thrones spinoff. On the Harry Potter series, Carvel will play Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Leo Earley's portrayal of "half-and-half" Seamus Finnigan marks the young actor's first onscreen role. A Gryffindor student at Hogwarts, Seamus is an ally to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Devon Murray portrayed the character in the original films. In her screen debut, Alessia Leoni will play Parvati Patil, a Gryffindor with an interest in Divination. Sienna Moosah, another newcomer, will play Lavender Brown, a close friend of Parvati with an eye for the original article on Entertainment Weekly
