Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Righteous Gemstones season 4, episode 1!

of the Gemstone family tree. However, The Righteous Gemstones season 4's premiere introduced the oldest Gemstone yet in the form of Bradley Cooper's Elijah Gemstone.

The Righteous Gemstones season 4 will be the final season of Danny McBride's hit comedy series, with it telling the story of the titular televangelist family one last time. Despite there being a limited amount of time with the main cast of The Righteous Gemstones left, the season 4 premiere made a risky move by not featuring the main cast at all. Instead, it focused on an entirely new cast, raising a lot of questions about how it related to the rest of The Righteous Gemstones season 4.

Bradley Cooper's Elijah Gemstone Is Eli's Direct Ancestor From Nearly 200 Years Ago

He Started Gemstone Ministries

Despite the rest of the show (minus the "Interlude" flashback episodes) taking place in the modern day, The Righteous Gemstones season 4, episode 1 is set in 1862. The episode tells the story of Bradley Cooper's Elijah Gemstone, a Southern criminal during the Civil War who kills a priest names Abel Grieves. After learning that the Confederate Army is drafting Military chaplains that will be paid $50 a week, Elijah takes up Grieves' identity and begins preaching for the Confederacy.

This started the Gemstones' ministry, which continued all the way to the time of Eli, Jesse, Judy, and Kelvin. The full Gemstone lineage hasn't been revealed, meaning that it isn't known how many generations exist between Elijah and Eli. It is known that Eli's father, Roy Gemstone, was born in 1917, with Eli being born in 1952. Based on this, it is likely that Elijah Gemstone was Eli's great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather.

The Real Meaning Of Elijah Being Eli's Namesake In The Righteous Gemstones

It Has Multiple Meanings

The introduction of Bradley Cooper's Elijah Gemstone means that The Righteous Gemstones viewers now know Eli's namesake, and this has a lot of meaning. Despite Eli being a pious preacher, he is named after a murderer con-man. This could reference the dark underbelly of Gemstone Ministries, with the outward-facing Christian family concealing scandals, jealousy, pride, and a variety of other dark traits seen throughout the show.

However, Elijah Gemstone's arc also demonstrates a major theme that has been present throughout The Righteous Gemstones: repentance. By the end of The Righteous Gemstones season 4 premiere, Elijah realizes his wrongdoings, with him praying to God and taking care of the bodies of his fellow soldiers. Elijah seems to have actually changed, something that could tie into the themes of The Righteous Gemstones season 4's story.