For Danny McBride, it's an ideal time for the fourth and final season of "The Righteous Gemstones," his beloved HBO/MAX televangelist satirical series.
As creator-writer-director-executive producer and star, McBride, 48, has made eldest son Jesse Gemstone one mighty, if often ridiculous, dude.
A testament to his unfettered ability to combine the sacred and profane, and remain continually surprising, "Gemstones" launched its farewell season Sunday with an unexpected Civil War episode starring ... Bradley Cooper ("A Star is Born")?
"With Bradley," McBride explained in a virtual press conference, "I knew that was a big swing coming back for the season and not having any of these beautiful faces in that first episode.
"I didn't want the audience to be disappointed after how long they waited for the show to come back. So we knew we needed an actor that had charisma, had charm. And that the audience would be excited to see enter this world.
"We sent him the script, he responded very quickly and interestingly enough, he had never seen the show! He said yes based on the material.
"Then he didn't want to watch it until he was done because he didn't want to influence what he was going to do. He wanted to make it his own thing, which I respected and thought was great."
Each season of "Gemstones" had one constant: McBride had "no idea whether we'd be able to complete what we set out to do. So, it was always important to make every season feel complete and whole and that it could be its own story.
"Honestly, when I started writing this season I noticed as we were getting ideas, many of the themes and storylines were about completion. About moving forward, moving on.
"Creatively, it became apparent that that was the story we're telling. The story is about a lot of things but the arc I followed through all four seasons is: It's really about grief. About losing people, turning to family and figuring out what's next.
"To me, that's what this story really was: About life and loss. About everyone, with each other's help, finding the way to take those next steps."
"It's bittersweet for sure," he added. "But there's also a massive sense of, I don't know, feeling like we accomplished something.
"The world is very volatile right now. The entertainment industry is very fragile. And the idea that this show has managed to survive -- through COVID, through strikes -- and we were able to still tell the story we wanted to tell and end it on our terms and wrap it up in a way that is fulfilling and satisfying -- that feels good."