The Weeknd Drops Sleazy First Trailer for Upcoming HBO Series ‘The Idol’

Hours after the Weeknd debuted the teaser for his upcoming TV series The Idol on the big screen at his Saturday night concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, HBO has dropped the new trailer online.

The series — created by the Weekend, Reza Fahim and Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson — stars Abel Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp as a couple immersed in what The Idol promises is “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.” 

In the 90-second preview alone, The Idol shows it promises to push (and perhaps obliterate) the same boundaries as Euphoria, with copious amounts of drugs, guns and orgies teased amid the central love story. HBO did not reveal the show’s release date other than it’s “coming soon” to HBO Max.

In addition to the two leads, HBO previously revealed that Troye Sivan, Tunde Adebimpe and Anne Heche would also appear on the show, while eagle-eyed viewers also noticed that Blackpink’s Jennie also shows up briefly in the trailer as part of Depp’s dance crew.

Earlier this year, HBO announced that The Idol’s production team was taking the series in a “new creative direction”; when the project was first announced, the synopsis stated it was about a self-help guru behind a modern-day cult and the complicated relationship he builds with a pop star, a storyline that seems to remain intact based on the teaser.

In 2020, The Weeknd spoke to Rolling Stone about his interest in writing for film and about the then-secretive screenplay in the works; The Idol was officially announced a year later.

“This is my first time even opening up to anything, because I had to spend the last decade invested in this project, the Weeknd,” he said. “It really does consume me, so I’ve learned to step away from it a little bit, to miss it a little bit.”

“I just want to be a filmmaker,” the singer added. “I want to make great cinema.”

From Rolling Stone US.