"I never thought we’d get a guy of his stature to wear a period piece wool costume in 90 degree weather for 10 days straight," McBride says of casting his surprise Civil War-set final season opener. "And for no money.

Danny McBride on collaborating with his 'Aloha' costar for th ambitious Civil War-themed prologue that opens the show's fourth and final season

The Righteous Gemstones kicked off its fourth and final season with an origin story episode to end all origin story episodes as the HBO comedy explored the early beginnings of the Gemstone family’s roots in religion and preaching with “Prelude.”

I sent him the script and he called me back pretty quickly,” McBride tells PEOPLE before explaining what happened nextBradley Cooper may have needed just a little nudge to sign on to appear in the fourth and final season of The Righteous Gemstones.

Danny McBride's HBO comedy 'The Righteous Gemstones' goes out on a heavenly high, praise be to the cast, crew, and, in particular, Walton Goggins.

Prelude, plays like a Civil War movie. Graphic, violent, touching, and a tiny bit sadistic. Bradley Cooper plays a Gemstone ancestor and he carries the Episode. His scheming, unscrupulous crook who lives for the money goes from belonging to the trash of humanity to finding his idea of honor and redemption.

Eli Gemstone's namesake has finally been introduced in The Righteous Gemstones season 4, and here is how Eli connects to Bradley Cooper's character.

The Righteous Gemstones” just dropped a jaw-dropping twist in its Season 4 premiere that has everyone talking. Instead of the