Your new favorite show is closer than you think. HBO’s highly anticipated drama series, The Idol, will hit the streamer this fall, but if you’re looking for a release date…we’ll be real, we don’t have one.
The Weeknd, Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, and Reza Fahim (creative producer for The Weeknd) are in the process of creating The Idol, which follows a “self-help guru” and underground cult leader in the world of the Hollywood music industry. The series stars The Weeknd (or Abel Tesfaye to you) in his first major acting role. He’ll take on the role of aforementioned cult leader opposite Lily-Rose Depp as a young pop star named Jocelyn, who begins a romance with the ominous figure and becomes ~tangled in his web~. It’s all very new Hollywood, and we’re on board.
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As for Euphoria’s ever-controversial creator Sam Levinson, this is his first major television project since season 2 of the Zendaya hit. For The Idol, Sam is credited as a director, writer, executive producer, and creator. The series is additionally produced by A24, so you get the ~vibes~. The Idol also features singer Troye Sivan, BLACKPINK’s Jennie, Hari Nef, Shiva Baby and Bodies Bodies Bodies’s Rachel Sennott, Dan Levy, Moses Sumney, and the recently departed Anne Heche in her final on-screen TV role.
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The show was originally announced in June 2021, and by November HBO had green-lit a six-episode pilot season. In April 2022, the release timeline was pushed amid “major changes.” A number of crew members walked away from the project amid these changes, including then-director Amy Seimetz, who was locked in to direct all six episodes. Following her departure, Sam stepped up as a lead director on the project–which, depending on your opinion of the creator, is either a giant green flag or a promise of full-frontal female nudity.
Of the changes HBO said, “The Idol’s creative team continues to build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show and they have aligned on a new creative direction. The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best serve this new approach to the series. We look forward to sharing more information soon.”
By July 2022, filming for the show had officially wrapped, leaving us in post-production limbo. That same month, The Weeknd dropped the series’ first teaser trailer while on tour during a performance at MetLife Stadium, and on Sunday HBO dropped a beefier teaser to hold us over.
Overall, this is a very Weeknd-fueled project, with a number of his cohorts tied to the project. (His manager Wassim Slaiby and creative director La Mar C. Taylor are also listed as co-executive producers.)
With little more than a teaser trailer at our feet, it’s hard to predict the future of this show, but if the track records of The Weeknd and Sam mean anything, we’re in for a multi-season series with an unmatched cultural and stylistic impact…that, or a pre-credits flashing graphics warning and lots of simulated sex. Chef’s choice, we’ll take it.
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