Danny McBride unveils his efforts to cast Bradley Cooper in 'The Righteous Gemstones'

Bradley Cooper has landed a starring role in the recently released black comedy series The Righteous Gemstones’ fourth and final season.

In an interview with People, Danny McBride candidly discussed how he convinced the Hollywood actor to join his directorial series.

“You know what?” he began by saying. “I would imagine that I would’ve had to persuade him.”

Reflecting upon his initial response to the script, McBride said, “I sent him the script and he called me back pretty quickly. He liked what was presented.”

“What was interesting is [Cooper] had actually never seen The Gemstones before, but he didn’t want to watch it until we were done shooting.”

“He didn’t want it to influence him, which I appreciate. I thought that was a good way to approach this,” the American director added.

Moreover, he also talked about his series, “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,” McBride concluded.

The Righteous Gemstones premiered on HBO on March 9, 2025.