The Vow, Season #2, will air for six episodes starting October 17 on HBO. New episodes will air on five subsequent Mondays.
There is a trailer on YouTube.
HBO writes:
The story continues. Set against the backdrop of the federal trial of The United States against Keith Raniere, #TheVowHBO Part Two offers an exclusive view into Raniere’s innermost circle, including NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman. It follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light, while federal prosecutors and defense attorneys battle with opposing views of justice in a case caught in the national spotlight.
Here is the transcript of the trailer. It gives a pretty good idea of what to expect.
♪ (SOMBER PIANO MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
SPEAKER: DOS is a monolithic and ruthless group masquerading as a group designed to liberate women.
Lauren Salman, Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman and Pamela Cafritz
Sarah Edmondson [with tears in her eyes]: I was just thinking, like, where are we? How did we get here?
Bonnie Piesse: This has to be stopped.
Mark Vicente: So I heard Keith hasn’t been seen for weeks. I’m pretty sure he’s on the run.
News Anchor: Keith Raniere is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering, sexual exploitation of children.
Mark Lesko, Tanya Hajjar and Moira Penza
Keith Raniere: By being able to do the most distasteful of activities, you’re going to be the agent of change.
Nancy Salzman: Imagine you spent 22 years trying to build something, but everybody thinks it’s the devil’s work.
Marc Agnifilo: People didn’t stay because they were coerced. They stayed in it because they really thought they were making society and the world better.
Woman: That’s just next level.
Moira Penza: His intent was never about doing anything good for any woman.
Nicki Clyne: Keith is very dear to me, and I know he’s innocent.
Keith Raniere in his cell at MDC
Raniere: You know the best way to train a con artist? Let the games that they play work.
The most noteworthy part of the trailer is that Nancy Salzman consented to appear in the Vow.
When HBO filmed her, she was waiting for sentencing and/or reporting to prison.She no doubt said Raniere was a villain and did not know or understand how evil he was until she heard the evidence.
It is unknown if the Vow uses her as an example of what Raniere said, “You know the best way to train a con artist? Let the games they play work.”
Salzman, 68, was successful for 20 years as the president of NXIVM. Many describe her as abusive and selfish. Others describe her as caring and a good teacher. Despite her denouncing Raniere before the judge, she did not escape prison.
Federal Prison Inmate Lookup lists the following:
Name: NANCY SALZMAN
Register Number: 25533-052
Age: 68
Race: White
Sex: Female
Release Date: 02/12/2025
Located At: FCI Hazelton
It was a serious miscalculation on Raniere’s part. He put everything in others’ names. He owned nothing. He seems to have thought that if the government came down on his activities, others might take the fall.
It did not work out that way. He is the only one who got a lifetime sentence. Everyone else will see freedom.
Kathy Russell and Lauren Salzman got probation. Allison Mack got three years. Nancy got 42 months. Clare Bronfman got 81 months.
The latest anyone other than Raniere will see freedom is 2026.
Name: CLARE BRONFMAN
Register Number: 91010-053
Age: 43
Race: White
Sex: Female
Release Date: 06/29/2026
Located At: FCI Danbury
According to HBO, the new season of The Vow is “set against the backdrop of the federal trial of The United States against Keith Raniere… It follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light, while federal prosecutors and defense attorneys battle with opposing views of justice in a case caught in the national spotlight”.
How will Nancy Salzman justify two decades of being the leader of NXIVM? How will she express her view it was all Raniere’s fault.
Much of NXIVM was about shifting blame. While Raniere tried to shift away from himself, so did everyone else. They blamed it all on him.
It worked well for Lauren and Allison. Less well for Nancy.
Some got out of prosecution by shifting blame in time.
The Vow will also show supporters of Raniere, such as Clyne.
They got their consent to film. How HBO portrays them in the series will be something to observe.
Evidently prosecutor Moira Kim Penza interviewed for Vow #2,. She interviewed after she left the DOJ and went into private practice, shortly after winning a conviction in the Raniere case. Her view of Raniere is similar to most readers of the Frank Report.
Perhaps she will give viewers insight into what plea deal, if any, the Feds offered Raniere.
One source close to Raniere said the feds offered him life in a low-security prison. There he would be safe and comfortable, compared to max security. This required him to plead guilty to the main charges and accept responsibility.
Raniere refused, according to the source.
He got life – actually 120 years — and in a max security prison. Yet he has hopes. His appeal is pending. He has his tampering motion. The odds are against him, but he is trying to shift the blame to the FBI. And win a new trial or outright release.
This is the hope that keeps him going and keeps his followers hopeful.
HBO’s The Vow does not delve into these matters. They more or less draw a curtain on the Vanguard of NXIVM with his sentencing and incarceration. And offer less than a glimmer – at most a quixotic hope – illustrated with a dash of dancing outside his prison – by his moonstruck followers.
They are certain to be unhappy with the production and The Vow’s portrayal of Raniere and themselves.
