Last year, Questlove announced his next documentary project would be about legendary Chicago funk band Earth, Wind & Fire. Today, Deadline revealed it’ll be released on HBO in 2026.
In his post announcing the project, Quest wrote, “Coming in 2025…..the definitive story of the elements. The story of how a band led by a genius from Chicago changed our way of thinking, our minds and our hearts. Having been baptized in the Afrocentric joy river of this powerhouse unit, I’ve learned about them, I’ve learned about us & more importantly I’ve learned about and rediscovered myself in the process. I’m so excited to be directing a documentary preserving their positive but VERY vulnerable and real story of soul, self & struggle. This is the story of joy, persistence, love, pain, magic and self discovery. This is Earth, Wind & Fire.”
While he announced that the project would be “coming in 2025,” it seemed that he’d instead dedicated that release window to a documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. Quest’s previous film projects included documentaries focusing on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (Summer Of Soul, for which he won an Oscar in 2022) and Sly Stone.
Producers on the Earth, Wind & Fire documentary also include Dave Sirulnick, Samantha Grogin, KB White, and Arron Saxe, with executive producers Zarah Zohlman, Shawn Gee, Jon Kamen, Cheo Hodari Coker, and Amos Newman.