DONE DEAL: Get Ready Everyone – Netflix Unveils Release Date for Official Documentary Finding Simeon Biles
By Melissa Grant | Entertainment Weekly
April 18, 2025
Netflix just dropped a bombshell announcement that’s sending ripples through the world of sports, storytelling, and streaming: Finding Simeon Biles, the long-rumored, emotionally-charged documentary chronicling the rise, disappearance, and unexpected return of Simeon Biles, finally has a release date — May 31, 2025.
For those unfamiliar with the enigmatic figure, Simeon Biles, younger brother of Olympic legend Simone Biles, has lived most of his life outside the spotlight — until now. Finding Simeon Biles promises to peel back the layers of a life defined by shadow, self-discovery, and second chances. The official synopsis teases “an intimate look at the cost of brilliance, the weight of legacy, and a young man’s quest to define himself in a world that only knew his name through someone else’s light.”
A Story Worth Telling
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava Matthews (Whispers in the Water, Letters to Cairo), and produced by the same creative team behind Netflix’s The Last Dance, Finding Simeon Biles is more than just a sports documentary. It’s a character study. A mystery. A cultural moment.
“Everyone wanted to know: where did he go? Why did he leave?” Matthews said in a recent teaser. “But the better question is — who is Simeon Biles when no one’s watching?”
The documentary traces his early life in Columbus, Ohio, through his high school years where he quietly trained in parkour and gymnastics, to his sudden disappearance from the competitive scene in 2017, just as rumors swirled about an elite athletic contract with Nike and a scholarship at UCLA. Instead, Simeon vanished. No social media. No press. No explanation.
What followed was years of speculation, internet rabbit holes, and conspiracy theories — everything from cult rumors to whispered mental health crises. Netflix’s Finding Simeon Biles addresses these with care, interviewing close friends, former coaches, and, most strikingly, Simeon himself.
The Long Silence Breaks
In one of the documentary’s most buzzworthy moments — previewed in a 30-second teaser Netflix dropped this morning — Simeon Biles appears on screen for the first time in nearly a decade. He’s standing in a sunlit forest clearing, wearing a loose flannel, hair tied back.
“I walked away because I didn’t want to become someone else’s story,” he says. “I needed time to write my own.”
The teaser fades to black with nothing but a voiceover from Simone Biles: “People forget he’s not just my brother. He’s Simeon.”
According to inside sources at Netflix, the documentary will span four hour-long episodes, blending archival footage with original cinematography shot over the last two years in Austin, Chicago, and an undisclosed retreat center in British Columbia.
A Complex, Unfinished Journey
While Finding Simeon Biles is sure to stoke curiosity about what exactly happened during Simeon’s years off the grid, it’s not just about mystery. It’s about transformation. The documentary delves into themes of masculinity, racial identity, anxiety, and the pressure of proximity to fame. The production team worked closely with mental health consultants to navigate those topics with sensitivity.
“People wanted answers,” said Matthews, “but what we found was someone wrestling with what it means to be seen — and what it means to disappear with intention.”
Netflix’s VP of Documentary Content, Rafael Diaz, called the project “one of the most emotionally powerful series we’ve ever greenlit. Simeon’s story is about resilience, but also resistance. Resistance to being commodified. Resistance to a narrative he didn’t write.”
The Biles Family Speaks
Though the Biles family has famously guarded their privacy, both Simone and their mother, Nellie Biles, appear in the series in candid interviews.
In one scene, Simone reflects on her brother’s disappearance with tearful honesty: “It hurt. But I got it. We were all so visible — maybe too visible. And he didn’t want that life.”
Nellie Biles adds a different perspective: “We raised our kids to be strong, but we also had to let them be free. Sometimes that meant letting go.”
The documentary explores not just Simeon’s withdrawal from public life but also his quiet re-entry into creative work. During his time away, Simeon reportedly studied movement philosophy and performed anonymously in underground art installations blending acrobatics, dance, and spoken word. A short clip in the trailer shows him mid-performance at an unmarked venue in Portland, Oregon, where a crowd silently watches him leap across scaffolding under violet light.
Critics Already Buzzing
Industry insiders who’ve seen early cuts of the series are already praising it as “achingly poetic” and “a breath of fresh air in the age of oversharing.”
Roger Whitman of DocuFrame Weekly wrote, “Finding Simeon Biles doesn’t give you a neat ending. It gives you something better — a mirror held up to our culture’s obsession with knowing everything, all the time. Sometimes, the most radical thing a person can do is be quiet.”
There’s already talk of Emmy nominations, and rumors that Netflix might host a limited theatrical release in select cities ahead of the May 31st streaming premiere.
What’s Next for Simeon?
That’s still unclear. The documentary ends with Simeon quietly walking along the edge of a canyon, the wind catching his jacket. No dramatic comeback. No splashy reveal.
Still, sources say Simeon has been quietly consulting with creative teams on future performance pieces and may even write a memoir.
Netflix has also hinted at a behind-the-scenes companion podcast, set to release alongside the documentary, featuring bonus interviews and production insights.
Final Countdown
With just six weeks until the premiere, the buzz around Finding Simeon Biles is only going to grow. Social media is already ablaze with anticipation, and the hashtag #FindingSimeonBiles trended within an hour of the release date drop.
For fans of documentaries that don’t just inform but transform, this is a must-watch.
So mark your calendars: May 31, 2025.
Clear your schedule.
Log in.
And get ready to finally find Simeon Biles.
Would you like a mock movie poster, trailer script, or social media promos to go along with it?