There’s been a shroud of mystery around Season 4 of The Righteous Gemstones. After the first episode took the show back to the Civil War, causing plenty of confusion, an actor showed up in Episode 3’s credits without actually appearing. So, who does Michael Rooker play in The Righteous Gemstones?
Who Is Michael Rooker?
Fans who stuck around for the credits of The Righteous Gemstones Season 4, Episode 3, “To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope,” noticed an addition to the cast list, Michael Rooker. He’s no stranger to premiere television, having appeared in the first few seasons of AMC’s The Walking Dead as Merle Dixon. However, he really stepped into the spotlight when he joined his friend James Gunn on the Marvel Cinematic Universe project Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rooker played Yondu, Peter Quill’s adoptive father, in all three of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and even returned for the animated What If…? He would then make the jump to DC with Gunn, playing Savant in The Suicide Squad and Sam Fitzgibbon in Creature Commandos.
Who Does Michael Rooker Play in The Righteous Gemstones Season 4?
With all those notable roles in his back pocket, it would be hard to miss Rooker in The Righteous Gemstones, but the HBO show decided not to reveal his role in Season 4, Episode 3. While that makes it hard to pinpoint which character he’s going to bring to life, “To Grieve Like the Rest of Men Who Have No Hope” features one mysterious figure that fits his MO.
At the beginning of Season 4, Episode 4, Kelvin Gemstone has a nightmare that features a man breaking into the Gemstone home and stealing the bible that Bradley Cooper’s Elijah Gemstone steals in Episode 1. The intruder wears a mask for the duration of the sequence, but their identity is sure to play a major role in the rest of the season, and who better to bring this criminal to life than Rooker, who’s made a career of playing seedy characters.
Of course, it’s also possible that The Righteous Gemstones is trying to trick its audience, and Rooker will play another character who’s yet to reveal themselves. Only time will tell how the celebrated actor fits into the wild world of the Gemstones.
And that’s who Michael Rooker plays in The Righteous Gemstones.
The Righteous Gemstones is streaming now on Max.