{"id":49825,"date":"2025-07-08T22:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49825\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T22:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:33:09","slug":"walton-goggins-best-tv-moment-of-2025-teenjus-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49825\/","title":{"rendered":"Walton Goggins’ Best TV Moment of 2025: ‘Teenjus’ (Interview)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t sipping whiskey across from Sam Rockwell, gobsmacked as he heard the tale<\/a> of an existential sexual awakening. It wasn\u2019t shouldering the fatal ending<\/a> and it wasn\u2019t busting a litany of snakes<\/a> free from their cages, either. Great moments, all of them, and plenty more to speak of from this year\u2019s The White Lotus<\/a>. But when it comes to his dominant year on TV, there\u2019s one Walton Goggins<\/a> moment that beat them all, and it boils down to a single word: \u201cTeenjus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s back up.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite being a television fixture for decades with iconic roles on FX\u2019s\u00a0The Shield<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Justified<\/a>\u00a0(not to mention recurring as Venus Van Dam on\u00a0Sons of Anarchy<\/a>), Goggins utterly exploded this year. Hot off an Emmy-nominated turn on\u00a0Fallout<\/a>\u00a0in 2024, the erstwhile Boyd Crowder entered 2025 with authority, starring as wounded bird Rick Hatchett<\/a> on Mike White<\/a>\u2019s third season of\u00a0The White Lotus. As Rick, Goggins got to show longtime fans and incoming members of his fan club a rarer side of the actor: quiet, restrained, in deep amounts of unspoken pain. In the end, Rick\u2019s story ended as tragically as it began<\/a>, leaving a sizable impact crater not only on an emotional level, but on a practical one \u2014 there was a sudden lack of Goggins on the regular HBO Sunday lineup.<\/p>\n

\n\tExcept, of course, Goggins was\u00a0not\u00a0suddenly gone from HBO. Far from it. All one had to do was invest in one of the most indelible HBO comedies in recent memory:\u00a0The Righteous Gemstones<\/a>, from the brilliant (and deranged) mind of Danny McBride<\/a>, another one of Goggins\u2019 frequent collaborators (not to mention travel buddies<\/a>). <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter leading a two-season run on\u00a0Vice Principals<\/a>\u00a0together, Goggins and McBride\u2019s latest team-up was an even more outrageous endeavor, a hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt examination of a televangelical family dynasty known as the Gemstones. While the show focused largely on the three core Gemstone siblings and their father, Goggins played a pivotal supporting role, again both hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt, with hair-and-makeup enhancements that made him almost as unrecognizable as The Ghoul on\u00a0Fallout.<\/a> (Emphasis on \u201calmost.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tEnter: Uncle Baby Billy Freeman, the shock-white-hair-wigged geriatric has-been turned has-been-born-again, having transformed from washed-up child star into a prolifically successful game show host, not to mention family man. Far from the days of feeding silver bullets from Colorado to his underage nephew, and far from the Baby Billy who abandoned his child (played by Macaulay Culkin<\/a> in a memorable season two cameo), this final version of Baby Billy in season four was at the height of his powers \u2014 only to realize maintaining that high involved getting\u00a0literally\u00a0high, and perhaps the idea of chasing a final crowning achievement was a Quixotic errand in light of his true prize: a family that loves and respects him for the Uncle Baby Billy he is.<\/p>\n

The Righteous Gemstones\u00a0is over<\/a>, and it has been for two months now. For Goggins, the process of closing down his time as Uncle Baby Billy came on the immediate other side of closing down his time on\u00a0The White Lotus. Hopping from Rick\u2019s devastating ending straight into Billy\u2019s joyful conclusion was no small feat for the actor, especially considering what it practically involved: an elaborate dance number for the musical movie \u201cTeenjus\u201d (watch that, below), in which the 53-year-old Goggins starred as the 70-something Baby Billy starring as a teenage Jesus Christ. Wigs on wigs were required to make this work, among other necessities, and the results were clear: one of the most absurd yet joyful television moments not just of this year, but of Goggins\u2019 whole career. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith Emmy nominations just around the corner, and with whatever awards-saturated future awaits Goggins, we cannot go on without praising \u201cTeenjus.\u201d Below, in my conversation with Goggins, we do exactly that. But first, we walk through the memory palace of Uncle Baby Billy\u2019s life, from season one all the way through to the end, and well beyond.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tWalton, I\u2019m trying to track how many different characters you were holding space for during this moment in your career. You have the Ghoul on\u00a0Fallout, who is already effectively two characters, who you have to pause in order to play Rick on\u00a0The White Lotus. You end your time as Rick, already an intense character for you to hold, and then you immediately return to Uncle Baby Billy on\u00a0Gemstones. You have said in interviews that you weren\u2019t done holding onto Rick Hatchett until\u00a0The White Lotus\u00a0finale actually aired. Was that the same with you and Uncle Baby Billy? Did you have to hold onto him until the final\u00a0Righteous Gemstones\u00a0season began airing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s a great question, and I would say the answer to that question would have been very different for seasons one and two. Because it\u2019s [a ridiculous character], but he\u2019s also grounded and rooted in truth. Baby Billy is a narcissist, but Baby Billy was also left behind. He was a person who had this collaboration with his sister. That\u2019s happened to many people over the course of a career in show business. We\u2019ve seen it where you feel one way about yourself and then when that collaboration comes to an end, when that person is taken away from you or you\u2019re not invited to the next party and you\u2019re left alone and you venture out on your own, you realize that no, you\u2019re not that person.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think for anyone not to have empathy for a situation like that, what kind of person would you be if you didn\u2019t see that for the reality that it is? So much of [Baby Billy] was about poverty and not having the resources to provide for his family the way that his sister did, for being the perennial outsider and being welcomed, but not really being welcomed, to the Gemstones house with his family and feeling less than for his entire adult life, really, until he meets [his wife] Tiff (Valyn Hall). [Pauses] We\u2019re talking about a comedy in a very serious way!<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, you kind of have to, in order to crack into the character, certainly, but that\u2019s some of the genius of this show.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSeason one was really tough, getting through a lot of that. Then season two, what Danny McBride does as well, if not better than anyone, is write these profoundly over-the-top satirical situations and people, personalities that are also grounded in real truth. That\u2019s what it really is for me. <\/p>\n

\n\tSeason two was about Baby Billy reconciling his narcissism and the sacrificing of his child. I can\u2019t even say that without tearing up, truly. He abandoned his family, he abandoned his child, and he has to come to terms with that in order to move forward in his new life with the wife he has now, and make amends and apologize. That whole season for me inching towards this ultimate inevitable confrontation with his son and finding the words to say \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d and truly mean it. And in Danny McBride fashion, he\u2019s able to do that from a narcissistic standpoint saying, \u201cWell, you don\u2019t think about me? You don\u2019t wonder what I\u2019m up to? And is there anything I can do for you, son?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWalton Goggins in the final season of Righteous Gemstones, directing \u201cTeenjus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHBO<\/p>\n

\n\tYou can let him punch you in the face! Really, that scene lives with me, because it\u2019s layered not only in what\u2019s happening with Uncle Baby Billy, but there\u2019s a lot in there about Macaulay Culkin playing your son, and knowing some of the public story about his career and how he grew up as a child actor under hard conditions. There was a lot of power in that casting decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen they told me it would be Macaulay, I had never met him but we had friends in common. I saw him standing outside of his trailer that day when I pulled up to set, but I didn\u2019t want him to see me unless I was in my makeup. I didn\u2019t look at him, I didn\u2019t smile, I didn\u2019t say anything. I saw him outside of the car, he saw me, I waved, then never said a word. I walked into makeup, did my transformation, talked through the scene with David Gordon Green, who was directing on that particular day, and we worked through the entire experience. It was only after I took the wig and makeup off that we sat and hugged and talked shit. I told him how much of a fan I was, and we\u2019re friends now. We text and hangout. <\/p>\n

\n\tThen on the immediate other side of this reconciliation with his son, Baby Billy becomes a father again with Tiff, which brings us to another scene that lives rent-free in my head: \u201c\u2026 a toilet baby?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s an opportunity to rewrite your own history, isn\u2019t it? That was the bookend to my whole experience. Here he is: Here\u2019s my son. Here\u2019s my second chance. I need to do this all over again. It makes me fucking cry, because God, we all need second chances. We all want that opportunity. We all have regrets. We\u2019re all just learning along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, a long way of answering your original question: season three comes around, Danny tells ms, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re just going to have a lot of fun this season.\u201d And in season four, we continue that fun with Billy. He gets his Bible Bonkers game show. He\u2019s back on television with Aunt Tiff, and playing all of that out with Valyn Hall \u2014 the joy and love of their relationship and the success they have is really special. He\u2019s always craved this attention, and we see he does have something to contribute. He found his lane. We go right from that into season four and \u201cTeenjus.\u201d So, with all that said, am I still living with Baby Billy in a painful way? No. I\u2019m sad that I won\u2019t get to play him again. But I am so gratified with what we did with his story, and I am so proud of all the actors and people involved in this show. And I\u2019m\u00a0really\u00a0fucking proud of my buddy Danny. I feel like it\u2019s time to give him his flowers<\/a>. He\u2019s been doing this for so long, and it\u2019s a real feather in my cap to be a part of his stable. I can\u2019t wait to see what we do next.<\/p>\n

\n\tI must ask: you are 53-year-old Walton Goggins playing a 70-something Baby Billy playing a teenage Jesus Christ. How do you do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYou take it seriously! We talked a bit with our wardrobe designer about how he would dress for the part as a director \u2014 taking it very seriously like he\u2019s Martin Scorsese,\u00a0for real. But then we have to figure out: How do we transition from him as this very serious director to deciding that he\u2019s going to do it himself and get in front of the camera [to play Teenjus]? He has a very specific vision but he\u2019s working with amateurs, and he sees they\u2019re not up for it so he\u2019s gotta go do the job himself. (Laughs.) I didn\u2019t know any of this was going to happen ahead of time, by the way.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou didn\u2019t sit down ahead of time with Danny to map out Teenjus?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe would sit down and read everything beforehand for seasons one and two, because clearly that was very important for me as this character. For season three, I didn\u2019t have a lot of time to work, so he was able to backload all of my stuff into a concentrated six or seven weeks. Then for season four, obviously, I wasn\u2019t there for the first four and a half months of shooting. I was shooting\u00a0The White Lotus, and when that was done, I came right back for Baby Billy. <\/p>\n

\n\tI landed, [went to\u00a0The Righteous Gemstones\u00a0production], and it was all Baby Billy all the time. I had gotten to a certain point where I couldn\u2019t let any other story in my head other than Rick Hatchett and getting to the end of that experience. And because of that, Danny kept Teenjus from me. I had gotten episodes one through four in my head while I was on the treadmill in Thailand, but after that, it\u2019s March or April or something, and I hadn\u2019t looked at all beyond that. So when I got there, and when he told me about the Teenjus storyline \u2014 I could not stop laughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s the big \u201cTeenjus\u201d music number \u2014 \u201cOn a groove that\u2019s so divine, turning water into wine\u201d \u2014 and you\u2019re dancing your heart out. Talk to me about the preparation. Was it different from some of the other song and dance numbers you had done as Billy previously?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt was lighter. We took a lot of time in seasons one and two to get the dance and vocals right. I\u2019m not a singer. I do the best I can. My bucket carries some water. It might be leaking. (Laughs.) But I get away with whatever I can. Then comes \u201cThere Will Come a Payday\u201d [in season three], which Danny put a ton of thought into, so that was a lot as well. In season three, we had Bible Bonkers, and we got to literally the day beforehand \u2014 our incredible choreographers had come up with all of this amazing stuff for me to do, and I kind of blew all of that up. I said to them, \u201cThis is all so good. It\u2019s so visual, it\u2019s so funny. It\u2019s also so real, and it\u2019s great for [all the other dancers], but Baby Billy cannot do these moves.\u201d I just needed them to create enough space for me to imitate Tina Turner. I wanted to do the apex of \u201cProud Mary\u201d for 20 seconds, and just let me do my thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe same thing happened this season with Teenjus. They have to tell this story of two warring sides, and then they launch into this huge dance. It\u2019s so funny. They had it all completely choreographed, and the only big X-factor was my participation. I came and saw what they had come up with, I got to look at everything and everyone\u2019s moves, and we decided that all I need was my circle. Let everyone else move out and let me just stay in that circle, let me do my thing and let\u2019s see what happens. We did that, and beyond the beats where we needed to be in a certain place for the camera to pick it up, no one really knew, including myself, what was going to happen next.<\/p>\n

\n\tWere you wearing your Uncle Baby Billy wig underneath your Teenjus wig?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, of course. I had to! I had the Baby wig on, the Jesus wig on, and man, it was just so fun. I knew after one take with these people that this whole thing was going to be so fun and special. Just the message of this song, and even the name: \u201cTurn the Other Cheek.\u201d Doing a rap, and playing a teenage Jesus? It was the perfect way to end all of this for me. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe way Danny architected all of this, that it\u2019s on the other side of all that Baby\u2019s gone through, that he has this family that he cares for greatly \u2014 he loves his wife, he loves his kids and he loves his work. There\u2019s this beautiful conversation he has with Eli (John Goodman) where he talks about how he\u2019s in a season of his life where it\u2019s raining and he wants to catch every drop. It\u2019s such a good conversation, so important and so well-written. I feel a bit like that right now.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was going to say, it sounds very much like where you\u2019re at.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI understand it, without being gross about it. I want to feel and touch every part of this experience, and never forget it. Because you never know what\u2019s going to happen next. No one knows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tRighteous Gemstones is now streaming in entirety on Max, along with The White Lotus season three.<\/p>\n