Prince Documentary Featuring Abuse Claim by Ex Killed by Netflix as Estate Plans New Film

Netflix announced that Prince’s estate will instead develop and produce a new, different documentary

A sweeping, nine-hour long documentary on Prince some six years in the making has been shelved by Netflix amid drama with the late star’s estate, which will now be developing and producing a new, different documentary.

Netflix and Prince’s estate released a joint statement on Friday, Feb. 7 announcing that Oscar-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman’s long-in-the-works film will not see the light of day, and they’ll instead pivot to something different.

“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. As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released,” the statement read.

A spokesperson for Edelman did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Edelman was approached by Netflix in 2019 to make the film, and was told at the time that while he and Netflix would have final cut, the “Purple Rain” singer’s estate would be able to review the film for factual accuracy, The New York Times reported in September.

When Prince’s estate was finally shown a cut of the film in 2023, attorney L. Londell McMillan, an estate administrator, responded by giving Edelman 17 pages of notes demanding changes, the Times — whose reporter Sasha Weiss attended the exclusive screening — reported. He agreed to some, but not others.

Weiss reported that the film, which she called a “cursed masterpiece,” was a detailed portrait of Prince’s music and career, as well as the darker sides of his personal life, which he kept fiercely private before he died in 2016 at age 57 of an accidental overdose. The documentary included both vault footage and interviews with more than 70 people.

Edelman’s film reportedly covered the devastating loss of his infant son with ex-wife Mayte Garcia and his difficult childhood, and included an interview with a former girlfriend who alleged physical abuse. One scene features ex-love Jill Jones recounting a night in 1984 in which the Grammy winner punched her in the face repeatedly, according to the outlet.

A Variety report in July indicated that the project was “dead in the water” after the screening, as estate representatives deemed the film factually incorrect, and felt it was “sensationalized.”

“We have a duty to honor and protect his legacy with a story that fairly shows him complexities as well as his greatness. #no9hourhitjob,” Charles Spicer, Prince’s friend and former business advisor who formed Prince Legacy LLC with some of the star’s heirs, reportedly posted on X in July in a since-deleted post.

Following news that the documentary would not move forward, McMillan wrote on X that “anyone disparaging or slandering Prince has a problem with me.”

“He had human flaws, as we all do, but he was a great man, greatest artist ever, philanthropist, innovator, and he helped many people including me,” he wrote. “People can say what they want but won’t use his platform to do it.”