Jon Bon Jovi on Why the Time Was Right for a Docuseries and Having ‘Very Few Regrets’ in Life 

Jon Bon Jovi says the upcoming docuseries looking back on his band is four decades in the making.

The 62-year-old rock legend recently sat down with ET’s Nischelle Turner at the iHeart Studios in Los Angeles to talk about his new Hulu show, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, and why the group members all decided to get on board for this specific project.

“The 40th,” he said of the band’s 2023 milestone anniversary. “It’s a round number, you know? I mean, I think 40 years is worth taking a look back… 50? I think at 50, [I] sort of wonder, ‘Will I make it?'”

He added, “It was the 38th anniversary-ish when these thoughts came across my mind, you know, and I thought, ‘Time to archive things, time to consider a documentary, time to think about what’s the plan,’ and this all came together.”

Everett Bradley, John Shanks, Hugh McDonald, Tico Torres, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, and Phil X at SXSW
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The band has previously been featured in other films and documentaries but the upcoming four-part show — which hits Disney+ and Hulu on April 26 — is the first time that all of the key players have come together to paint the full Bon Jovi picture.

While some artists and bands — especially those who have had their fair share of ups and downs over the years — might find it difficult to work on a retrospective series like Thank You, Goodnight, the “Livin’ on a Prayer” rocker tells ET that it was easier than some may think as he is a man who regrets very little.

“It wasn’t hard to do for a number of reasons,” he said. “One is, I have very few regrets. Mistakes are part of life and part of the journey.”

It also helped, he says, that director Gotham Chopra had creative agency to take it the way he wanted and that inherently gave him peace of mind while filming and even during the promotion of the end result.

“Having no creative control over the edit, truly not wanting a puff piece, giving the director and the producer their opportunity to create this film — I was more focused on the archiving, I was more focused on writing a new record, I was more focused on my health,” Jon noted. “To be honest, [I’ll] look you in the eye and tell you, I have not seen the four episodes finished.”

David Bryan, Tico Torres, Jon Bon Jovi, Alec John Such, and Richie Sambora in May 1984
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In February, Jon spoke at a Television Critics Association event, where he first shared why the 40th anniversary was the best time for them to film and how it felt like an important crossroad moment for Bon Jovi as a band. The group is gearing up to drop their 16th studio album, Forever, on June 7 after a pause following the frontman’s 2022 vocal cord surgery.

“I wanted to document what had happened in my past, with the vision on what is the future,” Jon shared in February. The cutting-edge procedure he underwent two years ago helped ease the strain on his vocal cords and fix some of the deterioration his voice has experienced in his 40-year career.

In his new interview with ET, he addressed his work-in-progress recovery status and said that he is doing the most intense form of “vocal therapy” that he can. He said the band’s legacy means too much to throw in the towel.

“Day to day, I’m working hard on it,” Jon shared. “Nothing else matters until I work on getting better. It’s up to God at this point. I’ve done everything I can do.”

Check out the trailer for Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story in the player below:

The four-part series premieres on April 26. Aside from interviews with the band’s current and past members, fans will get to see exclusive interviews with Bruce Springsteen and other major musicians and figures instrumental to the genre and the band’s rise to fame.

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