The Idol Is Not Coming Back Even After A 'Strong Audience Response'
The internet has won this one.
It's no secret that even before The Idol was released to the general public by HBO, it was showered with horrible reviews and covered in drama of all kinds.
Sam Levinson's second scandalous project, which was supposed to provoke the audience, became one of the most hated productions of 2023.
The journey that began with changing the crew and rewriting half of the script to change the focus of the story from the point of view of the female lead, Jocelyn, to The Weeknd 's Tedros, has now come to an end with an official statement from HBO.
The network announced that The Idol will not be renewed for a second season.
“‘The Idol’ was one of HBO’s most provocative originals & we’re pleased by the strong audience response. After much thought & consideration, HBO, as well as the creators & producers have decided not to move forward with a second season,” the network stated.
Although it was not mentioned in a statement, it is safe to say that HBO representatives did not lie about the strong response. What they failed to mention was how negative it was, as the show has a rating of 4.8/10 on IMDb and a 19% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Neither the celebrities cast on the show, such as Troye Sivan or BLACKPINK 's superstar Jennie, nor the excessive amount of nudity and drug abuse were able to help the show save its reputation and stay afloat. The allegations made by Rolling Stone before the show's release in March did not help either.
The one thing that can be said for The Idol is that it kept its scandalous image throughout all of its promotion. Whether that was the right thing to do or not is not for the audience to judge. The good thing is that now Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) can hopefully drop the character and stop beefing with concerned fans and media.
If you want to watch The Idol and decide for yourself if it deserves a second chance or not, you can stream it on MAX, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Variety