# How to Become a Tyrant
**How to Become a Tyrant** is a 2021 Netflix documentary limited series that presents a sardonic, step-by-step "playbook" for seizing and holding absolute power, illustrated through six of history's dictators. It is narrated and co-produced by [Peter Dinklage](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-dinklage), and its six episodes each pair one chapter of the playbook with one ruler: [Adolf Hitler](https://www.edgepedia.org/adolf-hitler), Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin, Muammar Gaddafi, and the Kim dynasty of [North Korea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-korea).[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Six-episode documentary limited series, Netflix, 2021; episodes run 25 to 30 minutes[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true) |
| Premiere | July 9, 2021; all six episodes released at once; status ended[2](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80989772) |
| Narrator | Peter Dinklage, also an executive producer[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01) |
| Episode subjects | Hitler (Seize Power), Saddam Hussein (Crush Your Rivals), Idi Amin (Reign Through Terror), Stalin (Control the Truth), Gaddafi (Create a New Society), the Kims (Rule Forever)[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true) |
| Ratings | TV-MA; IMDb 7.4/10; Rotten Tomatoes 100% Tomatometer from 5 critic reviews and 74% from audiences[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/how-to-become-a-tyrant) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01) |
| Producers | Jonah Bekhor and Jonas Bell Pasht, executive producers[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/tyranny-made-easy) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The series is organized around a fictional leather-bound tome called the Playbook, which lays out the steps to dictatorship: seize power, crush your rivals, reign through terror, control the truth, create a new society, and rule forever.[6](https://www.johnmcdonald.net.au/2021/how-to-become-a-tyrant/) Dinklage narrates in the second person, in a dry, cheerful register that addresses the viewer as an aspiring tyrant, and the show continually returns to the book between archival sequences.[6](https://www.johnmcdonald.net.au/2021/how-to-become-a-tyrant/)
Each episode follows the same recipe. A chapter heading states the lesson; archival footage from the featured regime illustrates it; animated sequences and expert commentary carry the analysis. The Netflix episode descriptions make the pairing explicit: Hitler opens the playbook for a rise to dictatorship, [Saddam Hussein](https://www.edgepedia.org/saddam-hussein) exemplifies ruthlessly watching your back once at the top, [Idi Amin](https://www.edgepedia.org/idi-amin) answers the question of whether it is better to be loved or feared, Stalin used public relations spin, revisionist history, and censorship to control the truth, Gaddafi dismantled civil liberties while reshaping society, and the Kim dynasty, in the show's telling, unlocked ruling forever by declaring themselves gods.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
The producers have described the series as less a primer than a warning. Executive producer Jonas Bell Pasht said people fall for tyrants because they do not realize a playbook exists and that the patterns repeat, and that the tactics appear, in smaller degrees, across politics regardless of political slant.[5](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/tyranny-made-easy)
## The six subjects
The episodes trace an arc from taking power to making it permanent:
1. **Seize Power (30 min)** uses Adolf Hitler as the case study for the initial rise.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
2. **Crush Your Rivals (27 min)** covers consolidating control through Saddam Hussein.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
3. **Reign Through Terror (27 min)** examines population control through Idi Amin.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
4. **Control the Truth (26 min)** covers propaganda, censorship, and revisionist history through [Joseph Stalin](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-stalin).[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
5. **Create a New Society (25 min)** follows [Muammar Gaddafi](https://www.edgepedia.org/muammar-gaddafi)'s remaking of Libyan society.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
6. **Rule Forever (29 min)** closes with the Kim dynasty in North Korea.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
Archive footage of the subjects themselves, including Hitler, Stalin, Amin, Gaddafi, Fidel Castro, Kim Il-sung, and Kim Jong-il, appears throughout, and a panel of historians and other experts supplies the analysis. A review in the Russian-language outlet Vistorika counted 31 experts delivering 289 comments across the six episodes, drawn largely from North American research institutions.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/how-to-become-a-tyrant) • [7](https://vistorika.ru/kak-stat-tiranom-article1/) One frequently featured commentator is a professor at [Carleton University](https://www.edgepedia.org/carleton-university) in Ottawa, who appears in five of the six episodes and connected the show's humorous treatment of monsters to the tradition of [Charlie Chaplin](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-chaplin)'s *The Great Dictator*.[8](https://carleton.ca/news/story/carleton-professor-featured-in-netflixs-how-to-become-a-tyrant/)
## Tone and technique
The show's signature choice is comedy applied to atrocity. Reviewers describe it as playing like an instruction manual for would-be tyrants, with zany archival inserts unrelated to the featured dictator and lengthy animated sequences that give the episodes a feeling of comedy and carnival, a register some critics found jarring against subject matter involving torture, famine, war, and mass death.[6](https://www.johnmcdonald.net.au/2021/how-to-become-a-tyrant/) The Cinema Express review rated the balance a success, crediting the expert panel with keeping the series from dwelling on blood and gore while still lifting the veil on oppressive regimes.[9](https://www.cinemaexpress.com/reviews/english/2021/Jul/18/how-to-become-a-tyrantdocu-series-review-a-tale-of-six-dictators-25547.html)
The instructional frame also drew criticism. Entertainment.ie argued that the format wears thin over six episodes, that the show offers no unique perspectives on well-covered history, and that it suffers an identity crisis between making fascism entertaining and confronting its horrors, while conceding that it does not misrepresent the historical facts.[10](https://entertainment.ie/tv/tv-reviews/how-to-become-a-tyrant-netflix-488941/) The San Francisco Chronicle's critic wrote that the series walks a line between snark and research and faults its refusal to address the present day directly.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01)
## Reception
Critical reception was favorable on aggregate: Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 100% Tomatometer from five reviews and a 74% audience score, and the series holds a 7.4/10 on IMDb from more than 12,000 ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/how-to-become-a-tyrant) Common Sense Media's review described it as a creative way of introducing viewers to the concepts associated with dictatorship and tyranny, and noted that the series discusses hate speech, bullying, and scapegoating.[11](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/how-to-become-a-tyrant)
Commentary on the show's framing divided along different lines. Some reviewers and viewers treated the playbook as a lens for recognizing authoritarian tactics in contemporary politics; the Cinema Express review connected Stalin's control of truth and North Korea's ban on outside information to current events, and audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes describe using the series to teach students what to watch for to protect a democracy.[9](https://www.cinemaexpress.com/reviews/english/2021/Jul/18/how-to-become-a-tyrantdocu-series-review-a-tale-of-six-dictators-25547.html) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01) Others attacked the selection of subjects itself: the Vistorika review argued the series is a political propaganda project rather than an objective classification of dictatorships, and some audience reviewers faulted it for a pro-Western framing, particularly in the Gaddafi episode.[7](https://vistorika.ru/kak-stat-tiranom-article1/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01)
The series has a companion of sorts on Netflix: *How to Become a Cult Leader*, which applies the same mock-instructional format to cult leaders, and Netflix lists it under "You Might Also Like" on the show's page.[1](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true) As of the latest streaming data, the series remains available on Netflix and Netflix Standard with Ads, with no free streaming options listed.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/how-to-become-a-tyrant)
## References
1. [How to Become a Tyrant, Netflix Official Site](https://www.netflix.com/title/80989772?fromWatch=true)
2. [How to Become a Tyrant on Netflix USA, New On Netflix](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/80989772)
3. [How to Become a Tyrant: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/how_to_become_a_tyrant/s01)
4. [How to Become a Tyrant - streaming tv show online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/how-to-become-a-tyrant)
5. [Tyranny Made Easy, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/online-originals/tyranny-made-easy)
6. [How to Become a Tyrant, John McDonald film reviews](https://www.johnmcdonald.net.au/2021/how-to-become-a-tyrant/)
7. [«Как стать тираном»: объективно или предвзято?, Vistorika](https://vistorika.ru/kak-stat-tiranom-article1/)
8. [Carleton Professor Featured in Netflix's How to Become a Tyrant, Carleton University](https://carleton.ca/news/story/carleton-professor-featured-in-netflixs-how-to-become-a-tyrant/)
9. [How to Become a Tyrant Docu series Review: A tale of six dictators, Cinema Express](https://www.cinemaexpress.com/reviews/english/2021/Jul/18/how-to-become-a-tyrantdocu-series-review-a-tale-of-six-dictators-25547.html)
10. ['How To Become A Tyrant' tries to make fascism fun again, Entertainment.ie](https://entertainment.ie/tv/tv-reviews/how-to-become-a-tyrant-netflix-488941/)
11. [How to Become a Tyrant - Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/how-to-become-a-tyrant)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Documentary, docudrama, and lifestyle series › Music, arts, and biographical docuseries*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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