HBO posts trailer for The Idol, The Weeknd's music biz Euphoria

After aligning “on a new creative vision” for the show roughly six months ago, a new trailer for Sam Levinson’s Euphoria follow-up debuts, promising sex, drugs, and more sex and drugs. Presumably, Lily-Rose Depp’s popstar also sings on the show, but the trailer doesn’t really get into that side of things.

Starring Depp and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, the show looks inspired by The Weeknd’s Uncut Gems directors, the Safdie Brothers, delivering a modern take on the 80s excess of American Gigolo and Scarface by way of A Star Is Born. The drugs, the slow zooms from across a crowded room, and the grimy, oversaturated nightclub milieu, all share the grittiness that Levinson brought to Euphoria to create the all-important vibe.

Here, Depp plays Jocelyn, a pop star on the mend from a mental health crisis and on the hunt for a hit. But while she’s instructed not to trust anyone in Hollywood, she is told to trust the one person telling her not to trust anyone: Tedros (The Weeknd). It’s all a tad cliche if you can believe it.

Hell-bent on bringing sex back to television, Sam Levinson is also bringing an eclectic cast that includes Dan Levy, Rachel Sennott, Eli Roth, and Jane Adams. It also features Saved By The Bell and Showgirls star Elizabeth Berkley, as well as the late Anne Heche in one of her final performances.

The show, slated for a 2023 release, recently underwent a major creative upheaval. In April, HBO released a statement to Variety stating that the show’s creatives were building and refining the show’s vision and “aligned on a new creative direction. The production will be adjusting its cast and crew accordingly to best
serve this new approach to the series.”

We assume that the show needed more slow zooms and people saying “fuck.” If that’s the case, this trailer delivers.