'American Horror Story' Fan Favorite Actress to Play Famous Cult-Like Figure
American Horror Story vet Sarah Paulson will star as the controversial Gwen Shamblin Lara in an HBO Max limited series based on the streamer's own documentary series. Shamblin Lara founded the Christian diet program The Weigh Down Workshop and the Remnant Fellowship, which was accused of being a cult. Shamblin Lara and her husband, actor Joe Lara, died in a plane crash in Tennessee in May 2021.
The dramatic adaptation of The Way Down: God, Greed, and The Cult of Gwen Shamblin will be executive produced by Michelle Dean, reports Deadline. Dean, who recently worked on Hulu's The Act with Patricia Arquette, will serve as showrunner. Chrissy Teigen's Huntley Productions and Ross Dinerstein's Campfire Studios are producing the series. Paulson also signed on to executive produce with Dinerstein, Teigen, Marina Zenovich, Nile Cappello, P.G. Morgan, Luke Dillon, Rebecca Evans, and Ross Girard.
The Way Down was directed by Zenovich and became one of HBO Max's most-watched shows after the first part was released in September 2021. Zenovich and her team were almost finished with work on the first three episodes when Shamblin and Lara died, forcing them to rework the series. They both declined to be interviewed. The second part, which was released in April, looked at the mysterious circumstances of Shamblin Lara and Lara's deaths. Shamblin Lara, Lara, and five others died when their private plane crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Nashville.
Shamblin Lara was born in Memphis and rose to prominence in the late 1980s when she founded the Weigh Down Workshop. The weight-loss program spread through churches hosting workshops throughout the country in the 1990s. In 1999, Shamblin Lara founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Franklin, Tennessee. She later purchased 40 acres in Brentwood, Tennessee for the church's massive campus. In The Way Down, Zenovich and her team included allegations of abuse. Shamblin Lara and Lara, whom Shamblin married in 2018, declined to be interviewed for the documentary. The church later launched a website to refute the claims in the series.
Paulson is best known for her many collaborations with Ryan Murphy, including American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Mrs. America, and Ratched. In 2016, she won an Emmy for playing Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. This year, she earned her eighth Emmy nomination thanks to her performance as Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story.