"Idol" 's fall from grace began long before HBO premiered its first season on June 4. A few months ago, a Rolling Stone report cited 13 sources who said the show's production was "derailed" due to a producer's exit, rewrites and reshoots. An unnamed insider described the series, which follows the career comeback of fictional pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), as "twisted torture porn." Co-creator Sam Levinson and Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye, who plays Tedros, refuted the report, but after the first episode aired, viewers and critics alike criticized the show severely criticized.
In fact, Page Six reported on June 15 that Tesfaye was no longer on Idol just two episodes into Season 2 due to his alleged "arrogant" behavior on set has been publicly reported. (Jocelyn’s on-screen home was actually Tesfaye’s real-life Bel Air mansion.) However, HBO’s PR team denied the report later that day, tweeting: “ It was wrong to report that Idol has been confirmed for a second season, but that’s not the case and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you on Sunday night.”
Although "Idol" was originally given a six-episode order, the chances of a second airing seemed to plummet when viewers learned that the first season would end "early" with the fifth episode on July 2. However, the shortened season was not associated with negative reactions. As Vox points out, Idol was originally scheduled to run for six episodes in 2021 with Amy Seimetz at the helm. However, plans changed when Levinson took over as showrunner, and HBO promoted "Idol" as a five-episode series when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Actor Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who plays Jocelyn's agent Fate, also mentioned in a June interview with Vulture that the season will only have five episodes, and she also confirmed that a second season will still be an obvious one. possibility. "I think Season 1 set up the world in great detail and character development, and Season 2 sets it up like, now we're really getting into trouble," she said. "Everyone is eager and intent on doing a second season, and until we hear something different, that's the plan."
Ahead of the July 2 season finale, Randolph teased that there's more to come. "Nothing has been revealed yet. A lot of subtleties have been put in place and if people go back and rewatch after it's over, there's a lot of Easter eggs and stuff to set up for season two," she said in a separate interview explained to Variety . Published on June 29th. "...I think it's going to be really interesting to see how people react to the final episode and how things develop. It's going to show you some different things that we haven't seen in a while."
However, don't expect Tedros to die. Randolph seemed to debunk a Variety interviewer's theory that Jocelyn killed off The Weeknd's character in the "Idol" finale. "That's not 100 percent true because it's definitely open to the possibility that there will be a second season and that there will be a Tedros character," she replied.
The cast of the HBO series' first season also includes: Rachel Sennott (Leia), Troye Sivan (Xander), Jenny Ruby Jean (Dyanne), Dan Levy (Benjamin) , Hank Azaria (Chaim), Jane Addams (Nikki), Harry Neff (Talia), Moses Sumney (Yitzhak), Suzanne Son (Chloe) and Eli Roth (Andrew Finkelstein) et al.
In the same article, Randolph once again confirmed that "everyone wants a second season" of Idol . "This was never a limited series. HBO is very happy with it," the actor reiterated. He joined the cast after Levinson took over as showrunner and reportedly canceled Seimetz's upcoming series. "There's going to be a twist, and I think the set-up going into season two is very exciting because I think a lot of season one was about setting up a world that not a lot of people know about because it's so complex."