Will ‘The Idol’ get a second season?
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The controversial HBO show “The Idol” won’t be getting a second season.
“The Idol” was directed by Sam Levinson, who is also known for the show “Euphoria.” It starred The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp. Depp plays a pop star whose tour was canceled due to a nervous breakdown. She becomes involved with The Weeknd’s character Tedros, who is a nightclub owner.
HBO confirmed the show has been cancelled, BBC reported.
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A spokesperson for HBO told Variety that it was “one of HBO’s most provocative original programs” and said, “After much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season.”
The show incurred criticism for being “sexist, gratuitous (and) exploitative,” as USA Today reporter Kelly Lawler wrote.
“The program’s extreme and disturbing content — nudity, sexual abuse, torture — can be harmful to young viewers,” vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council said in a press release sent to the Deseret News. “Despite HBO’s glamorization of the program and its cast, the show sunk into such depravity that even its audience turned against it.”
In a previous interview with the Deseret News, Henson said about the show, “It’s dark, it’s twisted, it’s exploitative. There’s nothing positive in the messaging, no hope, no redemption.”
“The Idol’s problems aren’t limited to its gratuitous nudity or juvenile eroticism. The show is dogged by a thin plot and an incoherent narrative. Storylines are blithely picked up and discarded, their remains haunting attentive viewers,” Lovia Gyarke wrote in a review of he show for The Hollywood Reporter.
And it’s not just critics that panned “The Idol.” The show’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 41%.
Viewership data on the show is limited. “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,” Deadline reported.
