50 Cent’s Netflix ‘Diddy’ Doc ‘Sean Combs: The Reckoning’ Gets Trailer and Release Date

Netflix on Tuesday surprise-dropped the first trailer and an official premiere date for its hotly anticipated four-part docuseries on the rise and fall of Sean “Diddy” Combs, executive-produced by his longtime rap-world rival, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Sean Combs: The Reckoning will debut on the streamer Dec. 2, with all four episodes dropping at once. The series offers a career-spanning look at Combs’ ascent as one of hip-hop’s most influential power brokers and his subsequent downfall amid multiple allegations of sexual coercion, assault and rape. Combs has denied involvement in any alleged crimes of which he has been accused.

According to Netflix’s synopsis, Jackson and Emmy-winning filmmaker Alexandria Stapleton craft a sweeping portrait that charts not only Combs’ personal story but the broader rise of hip-hop itself — and the outsize imprint Combs left on the genre as it reshaped American culture in the 1990s.

“Diddy. Puff Daddy. Love. The public knows the hip-hop icon by many names — but who is the real Sean Combs?” the logline asks. “In a new four-part documentary by Emmy and Grammy Award–winning executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Emmy Award–winning director Alexandria Stapleton, Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend and convicted offender.”

Born with a relentless drive for stardom and a sharp eye for talent, Combs rose rapidly through the music business with Bad Boy Entertainment, helping usher hip-hop into the pop mainstream and launching key acts including The Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Jodeci and Danity Kane.

But as former associates, childhood friends, artists and employees recount in the series, darker impulses soon began to shadow his ambition. Through explosive, never-before-seen material — including exclusive interviews with those once inside his inner circle — the documentary explores both the glittering empire Combs built and the underworld that, the filmmakers argue, existed just beneath its surface.

The Reckoning arrives as the latest in a wave of docuseries reexamining Combs’ life and legacy following his September 2024 arrest and subsequent federal indictment in the Southern District of New York. The four-count case — which included charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and Mann Act violations — centered on prosecutors’ claims that Combs used his companies to coerce two women into participating in his so-called “freak offs” or “hotel nights” that were fueled by drugs and could go on for days. His eight-week summer trial ended in a split verdict that acquitted him of the most serious charges; he was found guilty of the Mann Act violations and sentenced to four years and two months in prison, which he is serving now in New Jersey

Jackson and Combs have shared a slow-burning, decades-long rivalry rooted in Jackson’s criticism of the Bad Boy founder’s business dealings, as well as the “In Da Club” rapper’s habit of targeting industry power players. In recent years — and especially as allegations against Combs mounted — Jackson has frequently taunted the embattled mogul online, fanning anticipation for the upcoming series.