The new HBO series from The Weeknd and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson has revealed its release date with a new teaser trailer.
The Idol, which stars the singer and Lily-Rose Depp, will debut June 4 on HBO and be available to stream on Max.
The series also stars Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Jane Adams, Jennie Ruby Jane, Mike Dean, Moses Sumney, Rachel Sennott, Ramsey, Suzanna Son and Hank Azaria.
The drama is executive produced by Sam Levinson, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Reza Fahim, Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, Joseph Epstein, Aaron L. Gilbert for BRON, and Sara E. White.
Here’s an official logline:
After a nervous breakdown derailed Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) last tour, she’s determined to claim her rightful status as the greatest and sexiest pop star in America. Her passions are reignited by Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), a nightclub impresario with a sordid past. Will her romantic awakening take her to glorious new heights or the deepest and darkest depths of her soul?
‘The Idol’ has been at the center of a major controversy after anonymous sources from the production crew called the series “a s**t show.”
Back in March, Rolling Stone published a scathing report about the new series’ workplace culture on the set.
Per IndieWire, the publication reported that anonymous sources have called the set “a shitshow,” noting that “Levinson’s scripts contained disturbing sexual and physically violent scenes between Depp and [The Weeknd]’s character.”
The insiders also claimed that “shooting went behind schedule and scripts finished late.”
The outlet went on to report that many had issues with the rewrites that occurred after Levinson replaced Amy Seimetz as the series’ director.
It was also alleged that The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, thought The Idol had too much of a “female perspective” under Seimetz’s direction.
The Weeknd responded to the bombshell report by sharing an exclusive clip from ‘The Idol’.
Not long after the Rolling Stone’s article was published, The Weeknd shared a clip from the series on Instagram in which his character references the publication.
As Variety reports of the clip Tesfaye posted:
“In the scene, a character played by Dan Levy pitches Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character Jocelyn to do a photo shoot for the cover of Rolling Stone. Tesfaye, who plays a modern-day cult leader named Tedros, says, “Rolling Stone? Aren’t they a little irrelevant? … Rolling Stone has 6 million followers on Instagram, half of them probably bots. And Jocelyn has 78 million followers, all real I’d assume. So she does a photo shoot, she tags them, they get her followers. More money for Rolling Stone, nothing for Jocelyn.” “There’s a lot for Jocelyn,” Levy’s character says, to which Tesfaye’s character responds, “Not in Rolling Stone.”
