HBO Max Orders Heaven’s Gate Suicide Doc & Alex Gibney-Produced Series On Fame As Part Of Debut CNN Slate

An exploration of the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide pact and a docuseries about fame, fortune and power from Alex Gibney are among CNN’s first slate for HBO Max.

The streaming service has greenlit four original unscripted projects from its sister news brand.

Heaven’s Gate is a four-part series, from CNN Original Series, that explores the infamous religious movement and the stranger-than-fiction circumstances that culminated in the biggest mass suicide to ever take place on U.S. soil. It follows the death of 39 members of the cult in San Diego in 1997, who believed that they would reach an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Directed and executive produced by Clay Tweel (Gleason), Heaven’s Gate is produced by Ross Dinerstein’s Campfire, which produced lauded documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Dinerstein exec produces alongside Chris Bannon, Eric Spiegelman, Peter Clowney, and Erik Diehn for the digital media company Stitcher, which produced the Heaven’s Gate podcast.

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