Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey release date, synopsis, trailer and more

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is an upcoming Netflix docuseries aimed at giving viewers an in-depth look into the secretive polygamous sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) and the rise of self-professed prophet Warren Jeffs.

Coming this June, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is a Participant and Ark Media Production from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Rachel Dretzin (Who Killed Malcolm X?, Frontline) and co-director/producer Grace McNally (Slay the Dragon). Jeff Skoll (The Help, Lincoln), Diane Weyermann (Food, Inc.), Miura Kite, Zachary Herrmann, Rachel Dretzin (Who Killed Malcolm X?) and Alison Dammann will executive produce.

This four-part documentary series features harrowing personal stories from some of the courageous men and women who escaped, along with never-before-seen archival footage.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey synopsis

More than a decade ago, police and law enforcement agents uncovered horrific evidence of sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas. The resulting investigation ended with them taking more than 400 children into custody. As the docuseries details, self-professed prophet Warren Jeffs rose to power as part of the FLDS.

He had 78 wives, 24 of whom were underage. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey will explore how countless women were forced into marriage and pregnancy as the group believed that more children led you higher in heaven. Jeff controlled the multi-million dollar church through a lifetime of conditioning and fear. The series explores the oppressive criminal cult under Jeffs’ rule and the extraordinary bravery of those who battled against tyrannical control in modern America.

In a statement from Dretzin she said:

"The first time I traveled to Short Creek, Utah, I had the same first impression as most. With their pleated hair, prairie dresses, and diffident, skittish manner, it was easy to see the young girls and women of the FLDS as odd, even alien creatures. It was almost impossible to believe that a society so repressive, isolated and extreme could exist in plain sight in 21st century America.And then I began interviewing survivors. The stories they told — of the process of systematic coercion and mind control exercised by the man they thought of as a religious prophet, Warren Jeffs — were far from alienating. After many months spent reporting this story, it was clear to me that these women could have been my daughter, my mother, or me. And it was also abundantly clear that they showed incredible courage and strength in leaving this religion-turned- criminal cult.The women in our series managed to leave the FLDS with no real education or skills, no money, no support whatsoever. For their whole lives they had been valued solely as plural wives and as breeders of children. To leave meant saying goodbye to everything and everyone they loved to start over in a society they didn’t understand. “Badass” doesn’t begin to describe how fierce they are. I am proud to be connected to them and grateful to have had the opportunity to tell their story."

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey release date and episode count

All four episodes of the series will be released on Wednesday June 8, 2022. Each episodes has a runtime of approximately 45 minutes.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey trailer

Watch the chilling trailer for this docuseries below. In many ways, this case is similar to Our Father, albeit Warren Jeffs was not a fertility doctor, but they both wanted to create as many children as possible, seemingly for religious means.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey images

Here are some images released from the docuseries displaying documentary subjects and more.

Watch Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey June 8 on Netflix.