[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Season 3 of The Righteous Gemstones.]From creator Danny McBride, the third season of the HBO series The Righteous Gemstones sees Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam Devine) taking the reins of the Gemstone family televangelist empire and further solidifying their legacy, now that their father Eli (John Goodman) is easing into retirement. Now that they’re in charge, they’re going to have to overcome their differences and their own greed, in order to keep everyone else, including some long-lost cousins with questionable motives, out of their business.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Goodman and Walton Goggins (who plays Baby Billy Freeman, Eli’s brother-in-law who’s always dreaming of greatness) talked about how Eli is feeling about retirement, unleashing vintage Baby Billy, the fun of the Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers game show, adding Kristen Johnston and Steve Zahn to the wacky Gemstone family or Season 3, and the bond Eli has with Gideon (Skyler Gisondo).

Collider: There is a lot happening this season. What are you guys each most excited about with this season, when it comes to your characters? John, it seems like Eli is enjoying retirement, at least a little bit. How do you feel about where he’s at?

JOHN GOODMAN: I think he’s in a pretty good place. He’s a lot more forgiving than he used to be. He’s trying to deal with all the insanity, without making him too crazy. It’s just trying to juggle a lot of balls. He’s always gonna offend somebody. He’s walking a tight rope, but doing it with a little more forgiveness in his heart.

Image via HBO

Walton, how does Baby Billy feel about where he’s at, at this point? He’s got this young son who seems to like to cry and scream a lot and he’s got a very pregnant wife again. How does he feel about his family and where things are at with them? Did he have any idea what he was getting himself into again?

WALTON GOGGINS: We had a conversation and it was music to my ears, to be quite honest with you. We’ve done a lot of emotional lifting, these first two seasons. This time, we wanted to have vintage Baby Billy and just have some fun. We just wanted to stay in that world and, true to form, that’s what they did. Every day, I had such a blast going to work. The stakes were high for him, personally, but also low, in the greater scheme of things. The way in which this idea comes about, for Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers and what happens with it is sublime. That’s the word that comes to mind. It really was a lot of fun.

I’m obsessed with Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers. The amount of times that everybody has to say that on the show is just delightful because it’s the most amazing tongue twister. I now fully believe it is the show we need in primetime.

GOGGINS: You might get what you ask for. You never know.

Image via HBO

What was it like to really follow through with that, throughout the season?

GOGGINS: I didn’t know if they were gonna pay it off, in that way. They’re good at keeping secrets. They’re better at keeping secrets than I am. The way in which Baby Billy’s story starts off in a clamshell, doing 24 performances a day, beside a pool at the Gemstone Resort, was exhausting, but it was so much fun. I had no idea that it was gonna start off in an imaginary music video that was gonna end with ripping off Family Feud and pretty much ripping. I didn’t know that was actually going to be manifested and we were gonna do that. Secretly, that’s always been a dream of mine, to do something like that and to infuse it with a certain amount of late show humor. It’s like Steve Harvey when he comes out with his monologue and makes jokes. So, getting to do that has personally always been a dream of mine. I was scared out of my mind, but man, I had a good time doing it.

John, this season, we get the addition of Kristen Johnston, and I just love what she brings to the show and what her character brings. How did you feel about having that comparison between her family and the Gemstone family? What did you like about really getting to explore that with her?

GOODMAN: We worked together, about 25 years ago now, on a play in New York, so I knew her and we were very relaxed together. She brings a lot to it. And any time they bring up another facet of the Gemstone family, I’m all for it because it’s a surprise to me. Every time I cook up my own backstory, I gotta throw it out because they come up with something better. But it was a blast. Her and the incredible Steve Zahn were just a pleasure to watch and always surprising.

Image via HBO

Walton, do you see Baby Billy as somebody who has character growth? Can he learn from his mistakes, or is he too set in his way of doing things?

GOGGINS: Oh, yeah. He’s not that person. He doesn’t have the anger. He’s gotten a bit of that monkey off his back and he’s found some peace with his son, which has given him permission to love his children. He’s a great father, and just as important, he’s a great husband. The love story between Tiff and Baby Billy is something to be admired and emulated, on some level. He respects her deeply and listens to her, and she respects him and makes him feel good and understands his insecurities. Everything that they’ve done, throughout the course of the show, they’ve always been together and united. So, I think that he is very different, certainly that the person you met in the flashback. He just still wants the sweet taste of success. He wants to express himself and be seen for the talent that he thinks he is.

John, how does Eli feel about having Gideon be a driver for him this season? I love their bonding moments and how they really form a respect for each other, by the end of the season.

GOODMAN: Oh, very much indeed. Gideon grows into something that gives Eli the best satisfaction that he’s had in three seasons. It’s a wonderful bond. He’s got a big kid inside of him, where he loves having a stunt driver for a driver, and he needs him, unfortunately.

GOGGINS: And Skyler [Gisondo] is such a great actor.

Image via HBO

Everybody on this show is so insanely good that it makes it so much fun to watch.

GOGGINS: It really is. From Shea Whigham to Stephen Dorff to Lukas Haas to Steve Zahn, and everybody that comes on. It’s just so special. People who have been around for a long time, know other people who have been around for a long time. There was a period where Steve, Lukas, Shea, Stephen ana I were all in the same place, and it was this beautiful place in downtown Charleston. Every night, we would get home from work, we’d have a glass of wine, and we’d sit out by this fire pit, and everybody would just start telling stories. And then, we would inevitably get a late night dinner somewhere. It was at that stage in the game where you know that you may never all be in the same place together, ever again. You realize that it’s real quality time. You reach a point in your career where you just wanna love on these people, with the time that I get with them, outside of work, and just hear what is happening in their lives and with their children, and their successes and failures, and we got a chance to really do that. It wasn’t just bonding. It’s been going on for 25 years, and it was a chance to celebrate that bonding, which was really cool.

The Righteous Gemstones airs on Sunday nights on HBO and is available to stream at Max.