What can’t The Weeknd do? The Canadian pop star remains one of the most ambitious figures in pop culture these days. Projects like Dawn FM and After Hours explored an entirely different sound than what we’ve known from him. Still, his talents aren’t limited to the booth. The Weeknd expanded into film and television in recent years. He starred as himself in Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems. Now, he's currently plotting the release of his upcoming HBO series The Idol.
The anticipated series, Sam Levinson’s follow-up to Euphoria, has faced its fair share of ups and downs since its announcements. However, it looks like it’ll finally make its debut this year. Cannes Delegate General Thierry Frémaux announced The Weeknd’s HBO series The Idol will debut in France as part of Official Selection Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Frémaux said The Weeknd will likely appear at the Croisette, alongside co-star Lily-Rose Depp, since he’s actually a regular at the festival. At this point, details remain unclear surrounding the series. However, other series, according to Variety, has debuted two episodes for the festival.
The Weeknd Brings “The Idol” To Cannes
Although the series is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated of the year, it’s faced its fair share of controversies. There have been a number of personnel changes including director Amy Seimetz and actress Suzanna Son, who both left the show. Then, there were rumors that The Weeknd wasn’t particularly approving of the show’s direction as he felt it relied too heavily on the “female perspective” of Depp’s character rather than his own. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it as Rolling Stone published an investigative article where sources described some unflattering details about the set, which The Weeknd later denied with a clip from the show.
At this point, there isn’t a release date set for The Idol. However, it looks like it’ll be coming to HBO before the end of the year. The Weeknd already announced the release of the score, The Idol Vol. 1, though he hasn’t set a release date for it, either. With his potential appearance at Coachella this weekend, perhaps, we could expect him to debut a song or two from the project there. Perhaps, the recently teased collaboration with Future is expected to land on The Idol Vol. 1 as well.