Lifetime will soon bring an infamous figure’s life to the screen! Moviedelic can reveal that the network has ordered the television film The Thirteenth Wife. The project will start filming in Kelowna and Ashcroft, British Columbia, in February. The cast and crew of the TV movie are currently under wraps.
The plot, based on a true story, follows a young woman who becomes an “unwilling assassin in a murderous Mormon polygamist cult.” She is forced to fight to escape the generational violence that threatens to consume her and her family while uncovering the dark legacy of a blood feud that spans decades.
‘The Thirteenth Wife’ is seemingly inspired by the life of Rena Chynoweth, whose parents were converted to the Mormon fundamentalist Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, a polygamist sect led by Joel LeBaron, in Colonia LeBaron, Mexico. The family soon shifted under Joel’s younger brother, Ervil, becoming the latter’s devout followers.
Ervil LeBaron eventually married Rena and reportedly “chose” her to clear the path of his church, the Church of the Lamb of God, by allegedly murdering Rulon Clark Allred, a rival leader. She, along with another person, traveled to Utah and, as per reports, shot Allred to death in 1977. She was tried twice but was acquitted in the first trial and ordered to pay damages to the Allred family in the second one. She wasn’t sent to prison and currently works for children who have been subjected to polygamy. Rena also wrote the book ‘The Blood Covenant’ based on her experiences.
Another recent Lifetime true-story-inspired movie that deals with a cult is Paula Elle’s ‘Bonds Will Be Broken.’ The film follows a woman named Anna who goes undercover at a self-improvement cult’s annual retreat to save her sister, Nina, who has been seduced by the evil leaders Ray and Trask. The movie stars Emily Tennant, Natalie Sharp, Greyston Holt, and Andrew Francis.
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