HBO is tying the knot with one of its most tenured and successful partners. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jody Hill signed a one-year overall deal to direct and produce television series for HBO and HBO Max which includes continuing his efforts as the directorial mind behind one of the streamer’s biggest comedies The Righteous Gemstones. It confirms that he’ll be back once more to preach the gospel of the hypocritical, criminal religious family and their megachurch empire.
Under the HBO banner, Hill has been a multitalented, comedic virtuoso for years now. Back in 2009, he began his run with the company as the creative partner of Danny McBride for the popular series Eastbound & Down. Showing off his versatility, he wrote, directed, and produced the series with McBride and even directed the pilot. Then, in 2016, he did the exact same for Vice Principals. With The Righteous Gemstones, he reunited with McBride once again, though he swapped out a writing role for an acting gig as Levi, one of the members of McBride‘s character Jesse’s gang, all while directing the series. Hill also took the reins for an episode of Peacemaker.
Outside of HBO, Hill was also part of the short-lived FX sitcom Chozen in which he and the crew of Eastbound & Down partnered with the Archer production team. Together with McBride, he also created and directed The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter for Netflix. Even without his new deal though, Hill‘s future still involved HBO to some degree. He’ll serve as a producer for fellow The Righteous Gemstones director David Gordon Green‘s new Hellraiser series when that eventually releases. When HBO‘s evangelical laugh riot was renewed for a third season on the platform, it was also assumed that Hill would once again take the reins.
Amy Gravitt, HBO’s executive vice president of programming, celebrated Hill‘s commitment to another year in the HBO fold, saying, “Jody has been responsible for some of the hardest laughs on our comedy slate over the past decade. I’m thrilled that he’ll be returning to The Righteous Gemstones for Season 3, and am looking forward to the new stories he wants to tell.” With the deal in place, Hill can now focus on where to take the Gemstone family from here. In an interview with Collider back in January, Hill discussed how long the televangelists could be on television and what his and McBride‘s hopes are for the future of the series:
We have talked with Danny and based on conversations, it seems like he wants it to go on for quite a while. There’s no real endpoint right now. There’s an idea of where we’d end up, but there’s no reason to really slow down on making the seasons. It’s the first time that, with any of the shows we’ve done, that’s been the case. Eastbound & Down and Vice Principles had a set end goal in mind. I think this could keep going for a while.
No premiere date has been announced yet for The Righteous Gemstones Season 3. The rest of the series is available exclusively on HBO Max.
via Collider