The best thing to come out of 2025, so far? That would be breakout star of the year, Walton Goggins, rapping as Baby Billy Freeman playing a teenage Jesus Christ (Teen-Jus, for short) in The Righteous Gemstones.
When fans sat down to watch Season 4 Episode 8 on Sunday evening, they may have been expecting a lot of things. A conclusion to the storyline involving Cobb Milsap (Michael Rooker)? Sure. A reunion between Lori Milsap (Megan Mullally) and Eli Gemstone (John Goodman)? That makes sense. But Baby Billy continuing the filming of his Teen-Jus TV show — which he decided would work best if he just took over playing the 16-year-old son of God — by adding a rap battle scene? That one was unforeseen.
In the latest episode, Baby Billy continues his quest to deliver Teen-Jus realness — fueling each scene by taking a bump of cocaine, of course — by adding a musical number to his already superfluous show. It’s a glorious scene that also features Mary Magdalene singing in the background and Eli dancing in a shepherd’s robe behind Baby Billy. And because Goggins is a man of the people, just after the episode dropped, he provided fans with a behind-the-scenes look at how the scene came together.
“With music out the headphones… from the raw to the real,” Goggins wrote in a caption on Instagram, sharing one version of him in the studio and another from Season 4 Episode 8. “Now TURN THE OTHER CHEEK and Go dance your ass off!”
Take a look at the endlessly entertaining video of the Vice Principals actor in the player below:
The White Lotus alum also shared a video of himself in the recording booth, getting into character by hyping himself up in Baby Billy’s distinct accent and swaggering behind a microphone. He even referenced his White Lotus character, Rick Hatchett, in the caption.
“Laying down tracks… My fourth single. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK. (With improvs) A Baby Billy Freeman Production. Bringing that Rick Hatchett energy! It takes a village. A village of the most talented,” he captioned the video, which received the stamp of approval from fans.
“I got your miracle right here, nerd” —Matthew 9:27,” responded one person.
“It’s like getting to watch Beethoven make fur Elise,” another wrote.
“This single is about to go triple platinum and win a Grammy in my house,” a third captioned.
What’s more, Trisha Paytas took to the comments to request Goggins at an upcoming show, asking him to “come sing misbehavin’” for a collab “from one Christian singer to another.”
As Goggins himself pointed out in the caption of his post, this is not his first time giving the world a club banger in Gemstones. Any true fan of the Danny McBride HBO comedy will attest to the potency of “Misbehavin’” featuring Jennifer Nettles as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone, and “There Will Come a Payday” from Baby Billy’s stint performing at Zion’s Landing.
“Turn the Other Cheek” is one final song to send off the series as the world approaches the finale, which airs May 4 on HBO and Max. HBO also recently constructed a billboard in Los Angeles of Baby Billy as Teen-Jus, promoting the fake show from the series as a goodbye to one of TV’s best characters. As someone wise once said, “There will come a payday.”
Godspeed, Baby Billy.
The first eight episodes of The Righteous Gemstones Season 4 are currently streaming on Max. The series finale airs on Sunday, May 4, at 7 PM PT.
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