Americans were glued to their televisions in 1993, as federal law enforcement officials engaged in a 51-day standoff with a heavily armed Christian sect, the Branch Davidians, outside Waco, Texas. The siege ended with the group’s compound engulfed in flames. Four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms agents and 82 Branch Davidians perished, including 22 children and the group’s leader, David Koresh.

This week, on the 30th anniversary — and banking on Americans’ fascination with true tales of crime, guns, religious zealotry, and violence — Netflix is releasing a three-episode series on the siege titled, “Waco: American Apocalypse.” The director, Tiller Russell, says he wanted to make the “definitive telling of the story,” a lofty goal as Waco has taken on mythic political significance, with debates and conspiracy theories about disputed facts.