The Weeknd Seduces Ultimate ‘Nasty Bad Pop Girl’ Lily-Rose Depp in Trailer For HBO’s ‘The Idol’

The new trailer for HBO’s long-awaited music drama series The Idol promises to dive into the muck of the music industry, and judging from the two-minute sneak peek that dropped on Monday morning (April 17), nobody emerges clean.

The series slated to debut on June 4 on HBO (and later stream on Max), was co-created by co-star The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) along with Euphoria mastermind Sam Levinson — and Reza Fahim — and it takes little time establishing the gritty, sex and excess vibe.

“When was the last truly f–king nasty, nasty bad-pop was one of the show’s stars asks over footage of Depp’s Jocelyn posing for photos while smoking a cigarette in a daringly plunging red gown. It quickly introduces nightclub owner Tedros (Tesfaye), whose dark past seems like a bonus for the pop star whose career was derailed by a mental health crisis on her previous tour.

“You’ve got the best job in the world. You should be having way more fun,” Tedros whispers as he seduces the singer on the dancefloor. “I like you,” she responds while a pounding remix of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” amps up the tension. The teaser then switches to showing cult leader Tedros as a svengali-like figure who unlocks something in Jocelyn by seemingly leaning all-in on her sex appeal.

“I want to be the biggest touring act ever,” she says as those around Jocelyn fear that Tedros is brainwashing his charge while things appear to be spiraling out of control. The filming of the series that was originally ordered by HBO in Nov. 2021 — which also co-stars Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eli Roth, Hari Nef, Moses Sumney, Hank Azaria and more — was reportedly plagued by delays, reshoots and rewrites on a production Rolling Stone claimed was described by a source as a “s–tshow.”

Last week, The Weeknd posed a 17-second preview of a song he’s been working on for with producer Mike Dean the show that he captioned “THE IDOL VOL. 1.” The Idol will air on HBO on Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. beginning June 4 and will screen out of competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Watch the trailer for The Idol below.