Depending Who You Ask, “The Idol” May Or May Not Be Getting A Second Season
Surprisingly, it doesn’t look like season two of The Idol is assured, so that may be bad news for Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Sam Levinson since they won’t have a show to enact all their torture porn fantasies. Actually, Sam still has Euphoria, so never mind! Insiders have whispered to Page Six that the show will end after season one thanks to Abel’s alleged “egomaniacal” behavior on set and the dismal reviews which have called the show “comically bad.” But another source says Abel is very nice–like a real Canadian–and that the show’s fate hasn’t yet been decided. And HBO has backed up that source’s claim.
Max (formerly HBO Max) reportedly spent a lot of money on this bullshit since they scrapped the first version of the show for reportedly being too girly. The Idol is about a troubled pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) who falls for a creepy cult leader, Tedros (Abel). And so that story needs to be told with the cult leader’s perspective in mind, I guess? And one show source told Page Six that working with Abel while he was in character was “not an ideal experience… and not one I am eager to repeat,” and another source called him “egomaniacal.” Lily herself did say she would “steer clear” of him when he was in the groove so… But a different source denied that he was difficult and called him “beloved” by the cast and crew, saying, “He literally opened up his home for the cast and crew. Almost the entire show was shot inside his home.”
Regardless of Abel’s choice of method-acting antics, the ratings haven’t been great for the two aired episodes. The show debuted with 913,000 viewers, and episode two dropped 12% to 800,000. But hey, maybe hearing Abel say: “Fucking stretch that tight little pussy,” in episode two will bring people in for episode three? After a Page Six source said that The Idol would be done after its first season, other sources claimed otherwise. Source one:
But a source told Page Six: “This was never meant to be a long-running show, it was always … a limited series.”
Source two:
A source inside HBO, however, said that “The door is definitely still open — it’s definitely not a decision [yet]. At this point, this is normal in our process … we’re only two episodes in.”
The source added that HBO was not shocked by reaction to the graphic show, which airs on its Max streaming service. “It’s a Sam Levinson show, and you know what you’re getting with a Sam Levinson show…”
Another insider:
…The industry insider said The Idol was meant to be a huge show for Max as it’s the first major series on the freshly named streamer. “It was a big, big show for them with big talent and a lot of buzz,” the insider added. “But from what I heard, HBO knew it was a bit of a turkey as soon as they saw it.”
“But [now] you have all the headlines–and that kind of makes up for it.”
And back to source two:
…The HBO source said, “The only person who makes the decision [about a second season] is the head of HBO, Casey Bloys, and he is optimistic.”
HBO also denied they’d made any decisions about The Idol:
It is being misreported that a decision on a second season of The Idol has been determined. It has not, and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you Sunday night.
— HBO PR (@HBOPR) June 15, 2023
If I were Casey, I would drop those expectations because I’ve seen hotter chemistry and better acting on OnlyFans, sweetie. Miranda and Che Diaz cheating sex scene on And Just Like That… caused me less emotional damage than this nonsense. You can’t have two series on the same streamer competing for the most uncomfortable sex scenes!
Pic: Max