The Idol was canceled on HBO after just one season. HBO has opted not to renew Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s controversial series, which was poorly received by critics and audiences alike. Season 1 ended after only five episodes, despite six planned episodes initially being mentioned. This led many to question whether the studio pulled the plug on the show early on due to hate speech, although it was later claimed to be a communication error. When rumors of the cancellation of a second season circulated in June, HBO’s PR team made the announcement boarded say no decision has been made yet.
“The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased with the strong audience response,” an HBO spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “After much thought and consideration, both HBO and the creators and producers have decided not to proceed with a second season. We are grateful to the creators, cast and crew for their incredible work.” While some actors signed on to the show thinking it was a limited series, star Da’Vine Joy Randolph claimed in an interview that The Idol was always slated for a second season and HBO was “happy” with how it turned out. Despite her comments, HBO stopped showing viewer data after the first two episodes.
The premiere drew 913,000 views across HBO cable and Max (formerly HBO Max), which was 17 percent less than co-creator Levinson’s previous hit series Euphoria (1.1 million viewers). Episode 2 dropped slightly to 800,000 viewers, after which the studio stopped publishing data. At the time, HBO attributed the drop in viewership to linear television viewership, which made sense given that The Idol is targeting a younger demographic—most of whom would ideally prefer streaming platforms to the TV channel. In India, the show was made available to stream on JioCinema, though Viacom18 has yet to reveal any stats. The Idol received an average rating of 19 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with the main criticisms being its overtly explicit sexual scenes and lack of direction.
The dialogue from the show was heavily memeed on the internet, particularly the dirty talk of The Weeknd, who played the cult leader Tedros who invaded the life of pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp). In March, a Rolling Stone report addressed the on-set turmoil at The Idol, with original director Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color) leaving the project when 80 percent of the work was done. The focus had to be on the struggle and exploitation of a rising Los Angeles pop star before Levinson came on board and rewrote most of Seimetz’s work to glorify the toxic relationship between Depp and Tesfaye’s characters. He ended up directing all episodes as well. It was also revealed that co-creator Tesfaye/The Weeknd felt the show originally “leaned too much into a female perspective.”
All five episodes of The Idol are now available to stream on JioCinema in India, and Max where available.
