'The Way Down' follow up explores Gwen Shamblin plane crash and aftermath

Liam Adams, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read
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The first three episodes explored the life of controversial religious leader Gwen Shamblin. The final two episodes are about her death and the aftermath.

Shamblin, known for her "Weigh Down Workshop" Christian diet program and starting Remnant Fellowship church in Franklin, died in a plane crash in Percy Priest Lake along with her husband and other Remnant members last May.

Remnant Fellowship Church founder Gwen Shamblin, left, sings with others from the church during services in June 2011 in Brentwood.
Remnant Fellowship Church founder Gwen Shamblin, left, sings with others from the church during services in June 2011 in Brentwood.

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The accident changed everything for director Marina Zenovich, who was already working on the HBO Max documentary about Shamblin and Remnant. Instead of releasing all the episodes at once, Zenovich and HBO decided to add more episodes and split them up.

The second part of "The Way Down" airs Thursday, April 28 on HBO Max. Chrissy Teigen is an executive producer of the project.

"The plane crash was a shocker and it did change everything," Zenovich said in a recent interview. "I feel like the story is still unfolding."

Part two looks at the investigation into the plane crash and includes interviews with people who left Remnant and were not featured in part one of the series.

"The new people who are in the docuseries are people that were afraid to go on camera or didn’t think it was worth it. It all changed when Gwen died, as tragic as it was for her family," Zenovich said.

'Continue the dream': Remnant Fellowship Church founder's children will keep church going after her death

Zenovich's docuseries calls and presents Remnant as a cult controlling most aspects of congregants' lives, which the church has called "absurd, defamatory statements and accusations," according to a statement Remnant issued last fall.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gwen Shamblin plane crash part of Chrissy Tiegen-produced HBO documentary