How to Become a Cult Leader
How to Become a Cult Leader
2023
1 Season
6.8
DocumentaryCrime

Look inside the cult leader's playbook for achieving unconditional love, endless devotion and the power to control people's minds, bodies, and souls.

Episodes

Build Your Foundation
E1Jul 28, 202332m

Build Your Foundation

Embrace your calling and reinvent yourself by studying the life of petty criminal and folk rock troubadour-turned-murderous legend Charles Manson.

Grow Your Flock
E2Jul 28, 202332m

Grow Your Flock

Build a fervent following by retracing the steps of Jim Jones, whose messiah complex turned a small healing grift into a dangerously loyal congregation.

Reform Their Minds
E3Jul 28, 202332m

Reform Their Minds

Return to Buddhafield and unlock the mastery of manipulation with Jaimie Gomez, a failed actor who built an army of servants by promising enlightenment.

Promise Eternity
E4Jul 28, 202330m

Promise Eternity

Apocalypse, anyone? Create credible danger and consolidate power by studying the spiritual, sci-fi narrative of Heaven's Gate leader Marshall Applewhite.

Control Your Image
E5Jul 28, 202333m

Control Your Image

Leverage media coverage to cultivate a pious image like Shoko Asahara, who built the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo on positive PR and deadly methods.

Become Immortal
E6Jul 28, 202329m

Become Immortal

Avoid unhappy endings and cement your legacy by studying Sun Myung Moon, who transformed the Unification Church into a still-thriving economic machine.

Top Cast

Peter Dinklage

Peter Dinklage

Narrator (voice)