The six-part Prince documentary is officially dead at Netflix. The streamer will no longer be releasing the Ezra Edelman project, according to multiple media reports. Instead, the estate will move forward on making a new documentary about the late legend.
“The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive,” Netflix said in a statement. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
Shortly after the news broke, the estate posted a video on X set to Prince’s “Free.” “The Vault Has Been Freed,” the account posted along with the hashtag “free.”
The drama around Edelman’s Prince docuseries is about as intense as documentary drama comes. Originally, Edelman, who is best known for creating the award-winning docuseries “O.J.: Made in America,” agreed to a deal with the estate that allowed him to produce a six-hour series. He was given access to the late artist’s archives for that project.
But according to a report by the New York Times, he instead turned in a nine-hour cut of docuseries that included Prince’s ex-girlfriends accusing him of both physical and emotional abuse. At one point Jill Jones claimed that the late performer punched her repeatedly after she slapped him. This cut of the project also highlighted Prince’s own abusive childhood.
Representatives for the estate said this cut of the project included several “dramatic” factual inaccuracies and “sensationalized” depictions of the artist’s life. The nine-hour cut of the project also stood in violation of Edelman’s previous agreement with the estate.
The project was in limbo as the estate would not allow the use of Prince’s music in Edelman’s docuseries, and now Netflix will shelve the entire project that Edelman spent five years making.
