‘The Idol’ Co-Creator Sam Levinson Convinced The Weeknd To Play A Star With ‘None Of The Talent’

The Idol, the HBO series from The Weeknd and Euphoria's Sam Levinson, brought its first season to an end last week. I thought it was quite bad, but found the internet pile-on was exaggerated, as they usually are.

Is The Idol just a sick, twisted ex-girlfriend revenge fantasy for one of its stars?!

The Idol wrapped up its controversial first season on Sunday night, and The Weeknd took to social media to celebrate the bow of the HBO drama, which he starred in, co-created and produced with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.

wrapped up its controversial first season on Sunday night, and The Weeknd took to social media to celebrate the bow of the HBO drama, which he starred in, co-created and produced with creator Sam Levinson.«The finale. grateful to share this moment with you all as the season comes to an end,» The Weeknd, known by his real name, Abel Tesfaye, in his acting work, captioned the slideshow of behind-the-scenes pics from the series.

“torture porn.” But that’s nothing compared to the wrath of Selena Gomez’s fans, who are pointing out similarities between the show’s pop star protagonist, Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), and the Disney-reared diva. And the “Only Murders in the Building” star’s fuming followers say it’s Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, whom Gomez briefly dated in 2017, who’s to blame.

HBO’s controversial “The Idol” said goodbye to the weird, controversial world inhabited by wannabe pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) and her creepy mentor, the rat-tail sporting Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye), after the show’s fifth and final episode, “Jocelyn Forever.” After struggling under ex-pimp/cult leader/star maker Tedros — Tesfaye is a co-creator of the show, along with Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”) and Reza Fahim — last night was all about Jocelyn demonstrating her power. Dwindling audiences of the show, said to have contributed “the worst sex scene in history” in an earlier episode, we are finally given access to the badass, pop diva lurking underneath, ready to strike with the same venom being poured into her by Tedros and company.Jocelyn, it turns out, is ruthless.The shift in power balance is clear from the start — while everyone gathers at Jocelyn’s house for a tour meeting, a disheveled Tedros is kicked out of Jocelyn’s life, seemingly forever.

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from the finale of HBO’s The Idol.

The Weeknd has shared two new songs from The Idol ahead of this Sunday's season one finale. "Like A God" and Lil Baby collaboration "False Idols" are streaming below.

Ellise Shafer For Moses Sumney, being cast in Sam Levinson’s controversial HBO series “The Idol” was, as he tells Variety, “strangely cosmic.” The singer-songwriter — whose two studio albums, “Aromanticism” and “Græ,” were released to critical acclaim — first came into contact with Levinson when he synced Sumney’s song, “Me in 20 Years,” for Rue’s special episode of “Euphoria” in late 2020. Sumney, who had been taking virtual acting classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, then found himself auditioning for the role of Elliot (Dominic Fike) in Season 2 of the series. “I auditioned kind of on a whim, and it weirdly went really well and went pretty far until I think the powers that be were like, ‘So, I don’t know if he looks 16 years old,'” Sumney says with a laugh. “Then Sam called me and was like, ‘I love you so much as an actor, I’m gonna keep you in mind.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever, sure.'”

Elizabeth Wagmeister Chief Correspondent On “The Idol,” Da’Vine Joy Randolph brings a rare bit of heart to the much-discussed show. Playing Destiny, Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) manager, the actor portrays one of the only stabilizing forces surrounding the sexualized pop star who has been wrapped up in a dangerous world, led by wannabe musician and cult leader Tedros (Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye). Randolph was hand-picked by “Idol” co-creator Sam Levinson after the “Euphoria” creator took over the show during a complete overhaul in which he shot it again, after an initial version helmed by Amy Seimetz was completely scrapped, Randolph says. Controversy began before the show even premiered, with a Rolling Stone article that claimed production on “The Idol” had gone “disgustingly off the rails” and that Levinson’s version played like “twisted torture porn.”

The Weeknd has confirmed that he’s currently “finishing” up his new album.The singer, who recently announced his plan to retire the moniker and record under his birth name Abel Tesfaye, has long teased a trilogy of albums that has so far featured the LPs ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dawn FM’.Now, in a new interview with Variety he has shared an update on the project and discussed how fan theories on the album’s title are incorrect.“I’m finishing the third part of this saga, of this trilogy,” he revealed. “The name of it will come out soon, but it’s not called what some fans think it’s called… what they think it’s called is actually a song on the album, but that’s not what the actual album is called.

The Weeknd has shared a cover of John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’ that’s been used in HBO’s new show The Idol.Ahead of the show’s fourth episode, The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, shared a version of Lennon’s classic song that appears in the show. The Idol is made by Euphoria-creator Sam Levinson and follows the plot of a pop star (Lily-Rose Depp) who develops a controversial relationship with self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Abel Tesfaye).The cover was first teased back in April and the musician performed it in Norway earlier this week.You can check out the song here:Last week, The Weeknd and BLACKPINK‘s Jennie shared a new song that appears in The Idol – listen to ‘One Of The Girls’ below.Depp also appeared on two new The Weeknd songs ‘World Class Sinner/I’m A Freak’ and ‘The Lure’ from the show’s soundtrack, which were released earlier this month.The first single taken from the HBO drama was titled ‘Double Fantasy’, and hears The Weeknd (now going by his birth name Abel Tesfaye) team up with Future.

The Weeknd and BLACKPINK‘s Jennie have shared a new song that appears in The Idol – listen to ‘One Of The Girls’ below.The Idol is made by Euphoria-creator Sam Levinson and follows the plot of a pop star (Lily-Rose Depp) who develops a controversial relationship with self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Abel Tesfaye).Depp also appeared on two new The Weeknd songs ‘World Class Sinner/I’m A Freak’ and ‘The Lure’ from the show’s soundtrack, which were released earlier this month.Now, Tesfaye has teamed up with Jennie, who also appears in The Idol as one of Depp’s backup dancers, Dyanne, for a new track.Listen to ‘One Of The Girls’ below.The first single taken from the HBO drama was titled ‘Double Fantasy’, and hears The Weeknd (now going by his birth name Abel Tesfaye) team up with Future. Like ‘The Lure’, the collaborative single featured production from The Weeknd and Mike Dean, and arrived accompanied by a music video that featured clips from the show.More recently the singer-songwriter and actor released the single ‘Popular’, which saw him join forces with Playboy Carti and queen of pop, Madonna.

Everyone has something to say about “The Idol.” Since even before it premiered, the Max series — the “sick and twisted” brainchild of Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson — has been slammed for “too graphic” sex scenes and excessive displays of “breast and ass,” as well as a particularly “nasty” steamy segment that Tesfaye was forced to defend.The “torture porn” drama, which premiered with 900,000 viewers, follows Jocelyn, portrayed by Lily-Rose Depp, a troubled pop star who becomes increasingly enraptured with the mysterious, rat-tail-donning Tedros (Tesfaye). Now, even a famed snack brand is trying to crumble the show’s cookies.After it was prematurely reported that the show would be canceled after only one season, the official Oreo account replied with more fire than one might expect from milk’s favorite cookie.

Abel «The Weeknd» Tesfaye said this week he «very much» expected a negative reaction to Controversy surrounding the show and its production first surfaced several months before the first episode's premiere, when sources told  that the project had gone «wildly, disgustingly off the rails.» Most recently, referred to the third episode as «bizarrely edited» and «hackily written.» Tesfaye said he expected all of this criticism, but was not fazed by it. «It's almost educational, that this is what comes with being incredibly famous,» Tesfaye told of his show's treatment of fame. «You're surrounded by people who you're not sure what their true intentions are, even if it seems like they're good.

HBO featurette, which you can watch at the top of this post. “Jocelyn is essentially moving from one cult, the music business, into another.”After a music video production for Jocelyn’s newest hit goes awry, the third installment of the HBO drama series sees Jocelyn finding solace with Tedros and his crew as the group shops, drinks and parties the day away, while Jocelyn’s music video has found a new star.

William Earl After the third episode of “The Idol,” series co-creator Sam Levinson described how he developed the creepy, awkward and ambitious cult leader Tedros played by Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye. “We’re in Abel’s house, we’re talking it through, imagining the character Tedros,” Levinson said, in the series’ “Crafting the Family” featurette on Max. “And I would say, ‘Imagine you have all of the dreams that you have of what you want to do in life, in terms of music, and your career, all of the aspirations — but imagine you have none of the talent. That’s who this character is.'” Tesfaye described the character similarly in a recent interview.

viewer tweeted. But, to see all the pearl-clutching on social media, you’d think that “The Idol” was the most salacious material to ever air on a TV drama. In reality, this is the same song and dance that we’ve seen many times before. And, at least when other shows featured this kind of material, they were less boring than “The Idol.” When the steamy historical romance “Bridgerton” became a Netflix sensation in 2021 – and launched Rege-Jean Page into stardom – social media was also abuzz about that show’s steamy scenes.

Selome Hailu HBO made history in 2018 for hiring Alicia Rodis on “The Deuce,” making her the first-ever intimacy coordinator on a major U.S. production. Then, in the June 4 premiere episode of HBO’s “The Idol,” a fictional intimacy coordinator got locked in a bathroom for doing his job. In the scene, pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) is shooting photos for her album cover when she pulls open her robe to reveal her nipples. Immediately, the mousy and neurotic intimacy coordinator on set (played by Scott Turner Schofield) steps in to remind the photographer (Eddy Chen) that the nudity rider in Jocelyn’s contract only permits the depiction of her “side-boob, under-boob and side flank.” The contract has been reviewed by “the label and her people,” he says, so any changes made require a 48-hour delay of the photo shoot, despite that Jocelyn chose to show her breasts without being directed to.

The Weeknd‘s The Idol is reportedly not coming back for a second season.