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Go With God: Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, and More Bid Farewell to The Righteous Gemstones

Why was HBO’s comedy about a Bible-thumping family so special? “Because it is based in truth,” says Cassidy Freeman. “I mean, no show with this much old dick should have you on the verge of tears every episode.”

Over four seasons, viewers have been treated to everything from heart-pounding car chases and secret societies to a swarm of locusts, an abundance of full-frontal male nudity, mini-mall churches being erected—and burned to the ground—and a genuinely tear-jerking storyline involving a freak pole-dancing accident and a service monkey. “But it obviously turned out great.” On another occasion, Hill came up with an Easter egg for Flannery to nestle into her costume design: He suggested that when the Gemstone kids travel by boat to retrieve their missing father, they wear outfits inspired by the Sea Org uniforms worn by Scientologists. In many ways, the show follows five very different love stories: Jesse and Amber, Judy and BJ ( Tim Baltz), Kelvin and Keefe ( Tony Cavalero), Baby Billy and Aunt Tiff, and, of course, Eli and Aimee-Leigh ( Jennifer Nettles).

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