It’s all about money, drugs and orgies in the first trailer for Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Sam Levinson’s new HBO series The Idol.
Dropping Sunday, the minute-and-a-half teaser features the first footage from the upcoming show starring Lily-Rose Depp, which is pitched in the trailer as being “from the sick and twisted minds” of its co-creators.
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Topless women, popped champagne bottles and a car ride under the California sun to a blindingly white mansion open the wild teaser, which features only a few lines from its stars.
“Lick it. Spank it. Drop it,” a woman can be heard saying over scenes of Tesfaye punching the air and Depp surrounded by dancers, before words flash across the screen promising, “The sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.”
“Why don’t you just be yourself,” The Weeknd’s character at one point asks Depp’s. “Because there’s nothing about me that’s relatable,” she bites back.
Set in the L.A. music industry, The Idol centers on a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult who develops a complicated relationship with an up-and-coming pop singer.
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The series was first announced back in June 2021. By November, HBO had given it a series order with Amy Seimetz set to direct all six episodes of the show created by Tesfaye, Levinson and Reza Fahim. At the time, Suzanna Son, Melanie Liburd, Tunde Adebimpe, Steve Zissis, Troye Sivan, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Nico Hiraga and Anne Heche were all attached to star.
But in April, it was announced the series would “adjust,” overhauling its cast and crew to fit a new creative direction. “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,” HBO said in a statement. “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.”
Tesfaye and Fahim are also credited as writers, with Joe Epstein serving as showrunner. The Weeknd, Fahim, Levinson, Seimetz and Epstein are executive producers, along with Kevin Turen, Aaron Gilbert for Bron, Ashley Levinson, Nick Hall, Sara E. White and A24.
The teaser promises the series is “coming soon.”
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