The Drama Surrounding HBO's The Idol, Explained

HBO’s upcoming series The Idol has been blowing up on social media after an exposé from Rolling Stone this week featured some serious accusations against the show’s creators. And things have only escalated from there. So what exactly is going on?

What is The Idol?

The Idol is a series created by Sam Levinson (the guy behind Euphoria), Reza Fahim, and Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd. It follows a rising pop star (Lily-Rose Depp) who falls in with a night club owner (Tesfaye) who turns out to be the leader of a modern-day cult.

Early Troubles

The series was ordered for six episodes back in 2021, but production has allegedly been hampered by Levinson and Tesfaye stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

Director Amy Seimetz departed the series last year, despite 80% of the show already having been shot. At the time, Deadline reported that Tesfaye was upset with the direction the show had taken, claiming that it was too focused on “the female perspective” rather than centering on his character.

The Latest Drama

Sources told Rolling Stone that Levinson took over as director and rewrote the entire thing — allegedly throwing $54-75 million out the window to redo it his way (an infuriating waste when you remember WB is now axing projects like Batgirl for tax write-offs). What was once meant to be a satire about pop culture and fame has reportedly now become something more akin to “a rape fantasy,” according to a crew member.

“It was a show about a woman who was finding herself sexually, turned into a show about a man who gets to abuse this woman and she loves it,” one source said.

Budgeting issues, incomplete scripts, last minute rewrites, and difficult shoot days are all things people involved with the show say have plagued production from the start — none of which sound surprising given Levinson’s history on Euphoria, which has been the subject of its own fair share of drama. Add on the disturbing turn the actual contents of the show have alleged taken, detailed further in the Rolling Stone article, and the entire thing sounds like a huge mess.

The Cast Responds

Despite multiple sources contributing to Rolling Stone’s article and all telling virtually the same story, The Idol’s leads have defended Levinson.

Depp told the publication that she has never “felt more supported or respected in a creative space” or had her “input and opinions more valued,” even calling Levinson “the best director” she’d ever worked with.

Tesfaye, meanwhile, responded by insinuating the article only exists because there’s a clip in the series poking fun at Rolling Stone, which he shared on Instagram, with the caption "@Rollingstone did we upset you?"

See on Instagram

Public Backlash

Euphoria has already left fans wary of Levinson, and people who actually read the Rolling Stone article rather than just look at Tesfaye’s Instagram post have not been happy about the alleged behind-the-scenes of The Idol, or HBO’s decision to keep letting Levinson do whatever he wants.

\u201cEveryone rightfully getting on Sam levinson but we have to also put the blame on the weeknd for making room for him to do this. \n\nNone of this would have happened if Abel didn\u2019t fire the female director cause he didn\u2019t like the fact the show focused on the \u201cfemale perspective.\u201d\u201d
— KORI DAY! (@KORI DAY!) 1677702980

\u201cto fire the original director cause it \u2018leaned too much into a female perspective\u2019 and waste a $75 million budget just to reshoot everything from the ground up and hire sam levinson to write a torture porn script is just insane.\u201d
— \u2766 (@\u2766) 1677688669

\u201cGood thing HBO nixed nearly every animated show they have to make room for quality stuff like this.\u201d
— Benjamin Siemon (@Benjamin Siemon) 1677699518

\u201cNever mind the fact a show about a woman sucked into a cult apparently became a show about the\u2026cult leader, but what gets me is that even after the disastrous way he ran Euphoria S2, he was given the chance to do it AGAIN. Stop letting this menace put cast/crew thru hell!\u201d
— Kelechi (@Kelechi) 1677695930

\u201cMedia literacy is dead, \u201cThe Idol\u201d Rolling Stone article is not marketing for the show it\u2019s an actual report on the failings of the production. Abel\u2019s response is out of touch. Not taking this seriously is how people like Joss Whedon run rampant through Hollywood unchecked.\u201d
— Daric L. Cottingham, M.A. (@Daric L. Cottingham, M.A.) 1677708618

\u201call rolling stone did was publish the fact that 13 crew members said that sam levinson created a toxic work environment and he thought this was the way to respond to that?\u201d
— marnie (@marnie) 1677707910