The Weeknd and Sam Levinson’s HBO series The Idol has been canceled after one season.
via: Deadline
It’s not a huge surprise given the critical and commercial reception of the show, which starred Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp. It also came after extensive reshoots following the departure of director Amy Seimetz, as revealed by Deadline in April 2022, and a reduced order taking its total number of episodes to five.
Some of the cast did mention the possibility of a second season during interviews, though show insiders said that creators did not come into the production process with a plan for a multi-season arc.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who played one of the managers of Depp’s pop star Jocelyn, previously said that the first season was left intentionally open-ended for the possibility of a second.
“The Idol was one of HBO’s most provocative original programs, and we’re pleased by the strong audience response,” said an HBO spokeswoman. “After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers, have decided not to move forward with a second season. We’re grateful to the creators, cast, and crew for their incredible work.”
HBO only released viewing data for the first two episodes. The premiere reportedly drew a same-day audience of 913,000 across HBO and Max, while the second episode dipped slightly to 800,000. According to HBO, the decrease in Week 2 came from linear viewing, not from viewing on Max — which makes sense considering the series likely was targeting a younger demographic than the typical linear TV viewer.
At the time, Nielsen reported that The Idol viewers on Max were tracking 21 years younger than viewers via the HBO channel, a wider disparity than the typical HBO drama.
