Fame can be sexy, but it can also be deadly in the new trailer for Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s new HBO drama series The Idol.
“When was the last truly fucking nasty, nasty bad pop girl?” Troye Sivan’s character asks as the trailer opens to the main characters partying and dancing in a dark club.
After we meet Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character who’s recently had a nervous breakdown, we also meet The Weeknd’s mysterious guru character.
“Pop music is like the ultimate Trojan horse,” the guru tells her. “You get people to dance, you get people to sing along.” What nefarious plans does he have cooking?
Whatever they are, they seem to be wild based on what we see and hear in the trailer. “I haven’t seen no shit like this since the ’90s,” Da’Vine Joy Randolf says. We can’t wait!
The show follows a young, up-and-coming pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) as she dives headfirst into the world of Hollywood, fame, and a self-help guru/cult leader played by The Weeknd, who also co-created the show.
The Idol also features its fair share of great queer actors. Model and Barbie star Hari Nef, who starred in Levinson’s film Assassination Nation, is in the cast, as is pop singer Troye Sivan, and Schitt’s Creek star and co-creator Dan Levy.
The Idol is already facing plenty of controversy. Creator Sam Levinson is known for his intense marathon filming sessions on his show Euphoria, but on The Idol, things have reportedly gotten a lot worse.
According to Rolling Stone, 13 different sources who worked on the series called the production a “sh*t show” and said it became less a show about female empowerment and more a show about “sexual torture porn.”
We’ll find out what the final product ended up being like when The Idol debuts at Cannes and then on June 4 on HBO.
\u201cNew trailer for \u2018The Idol.\u2019 \u201d— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1681744407