‘The Way Down’: When Do Episodes 4 and 5 Drop on HBO Max?

The Way Down is a new HBO Max docuseries about weight-loss cult leader Gwen Shamblin and her Remnant Fellowship Church. The streamer dropped the first three episodes of the five-part series on September 30.

But the final two episodes have yet to arrive. When will episodes 4 and 5 of The Way Down drop on HBO Max?

The first three episodes of ‘The Way Down’ cover Gwen Shamblin’s rise to notoriety

The Way Down — directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Marina Zenovich — is a docuseries centered around the life of Gwen Shamblin Lara. She created a Christian faith-based diet program called the Weigh Down Workshop. But as the success of the program grew, Shamblin transformed from dietician into cult leader.

The first three episodes chronicle Shamblin’s rise to notoriety. After finding major success with the Weigh Down Workshop, Shamblin — along with her husband and a small group of friends — founded the controversial Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. But it wasn’t long until the church and its ministry became the “Gwen Shamblin Show.”

Gwen Shamblin combined her two favorite things when starting her ministry

Shamblin grew up in the Church of Christ, which is an ultra-conservative Protestant movement that doesn’t allow women to speak, pray, or preach in public. The southern church introduced Shamblin to the power of strict biblical doctrine and the domination it can bring.

At the same time, Shamblin also struggled with her weight. Which led her to studying nutrition in college and becoming a dietician. In the early 1990’s, she combined her two favorite things — weight loss and religion — when she created The Weigh Down Workshop.

It may have started out innocently enough, and Shamblin’s heart may have been in the right place at the time. But her upbringing — combined with her quest for money, power, and keeping up appearances — turned her workshop into a controversial church accused of being a cult.

When do episodes 4 and 5 of ‘The Way Down’ drop on HBO Max?

On May 29, 2021, The Way Down was in the final stages of post-production when Shamblin’s story took an unexpected and shocking turn. The events that happened that day were so impactful that filmmakers had to completely reconfigure the entire series.

According to Bustle, after what happened that day, people started to come forward to talk about the church publicly. Relatives of church members who were skeptical of Shamblin and Remnant also started sharing their stories.

Because of the sudden turn of events just a few months before the series was set to premiere, filmmakers reconfigured the first three episodes for the scheduled September release. Then, they decided to add two more episodes so they could cover what happened on that Saturday in May, as well as the aftermath that followed. But those episodes won’t be released until early 2022.

Gwen Shamblin Lara faced serious allegations

So far, The Way Down has taken a critical look at the practices within the Remnant Fellowship Church. The first three episodes have covered allegations of authoritarianism and child abuse. As well as claims that members who wanted to leave the church were harassed and shunned.

Shamblin denied all of the accusations made against her, while refuting the claim that Remnant is a cult. But the third episode ended with the stunning reveal of the events of May 29, which completely changed the story.

‘The Way Down’ has more story to tell

Shamblin’s claims of being a prophet and preaching thinness and beauty to her congregation may have made her famous. But there is so much more to the story after the May incident.

“There is a fuller story to be told. We just want to make sure that we can allow enough time for the story to progress and the investigation to pursue some answers and give us time to interview all the subjects,” Lizzie Fox, senior vice president of nonfiction at HBO Max said in a statement.

“With a limited docuseries, if there’s ever a chance to have a second part, I think it’s something that people tend to get excited about.”

The first three episodes of The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin are streaming now on HBO Max.