Netflix just grabbed the rights to “The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable,” the documentary that tells the full saga of how a Dutch-Moroccan producer named Cilvaringz worked his way into the Wu-Tang Clan’s inner circle and went on to create one of the most controversial artifacts in music history.
More than a decade after the onset of the strange saga surrounding Wu-Tang Clan’s one-of-a-kind album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the story is getting the documentary treatment. The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable, which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, will arrive on Netflix on Oct. 16.
Directed by Oscar-winner Joanna Natasegara in her feature directorial debut, the film follows Tarik Azzougarh, better known as Cilvaringz, the Dutch-Moroccan rapper and producer whose teenage obsession with Wu-Tang ultimately led him inside the group’s inner circle — and to the creation of one of music history’s most audacious experiments.
The film mainly centers on the making of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, a 31-track album with only one physical copy in the world. Recorded over six years and pressed in 2014, the album was auctioned off in 2015 for $2 million, making it the most expensive musical work ever sold. Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli bought it in 2015. After Shkreli’s 2018 conviction for securities fraud, the federal government seized the album as part of his asset forfeiture. In July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sold it to cover his debts, and it ended up with PleasrDAO, a crypto collective that paid $4 million for the privilege.
According to Variety, the RZA serves as an executive producer and contributor to the film, which also features appearances from Cilvaringz, Moongod Allah, and DJ Sueside. The documentary premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January before Netflix acquired the rights.