HBO orders religious comedy pilot with John Goodman, Danny McBride

June 29 (UPI) -- HBO has ordered a comedy pilot about a televangelist family starring John Goodman and Danny McBride and titled The Righteous Gemstones.

The Righteous Gemstones will follow Goodman as Eli, the patriarch of the Gemstone family, whose time as a world-famous Christian minister with a weekly television program is fading. McBride will portray Eli's eldest son, who is modernizing his father's empire.

The Gemstone family is described as having a long history of deviance, greed and charitable work, all done in the name of Jesus Christ.

McBride, who will direct the pilot episode, is also serving as a writer and executive producer on the comedy along with Jody Hill and David Gordon Green.

McBride, Hill and Green previously worked on HBO comedy series Vice Principals and Eastbound & Down. The trio also collaborated on the Netflix film The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter, which arrives on the streaming service on July 6.

Goodman will also star in Roseanne spinoff The Conners without actress Roseanne Barr after the show was canceled over her racist behavior on social media.