Singer The Weeknd is no stranger to theatrics in his music so acting should come easily to the pop music phenomenon. It has been announced that The Weeknd will star in, co-write, and executive produce The Idol, a pop singer cult drama series in development at HBO. Euphoria creator Sam Levinson co-created the series with The Weeknd, and Reza Fahim, a former nightlife entrepreneur-turned-writer who also serves as The Weeknd's producing partner.
The series is set to follow a female pop singer who starts a romance with an enigmatic L.A. club owner who is the leader of a secret cult. This sounds like one of the more inventive narratives for a series I've heard in a while so I'm certainly intrigued. I'm a big fan of Sam Levinson and Euphoria so I'm curious to see what he can bring to The Weeknd's unique sensibilities.
The Weeknd is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is among the world's best-selling music artists with over 75 million records sold and is on the list of most-streamed artists on Spotify. He has won three Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, nineteen Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, fifteen Juno Awards, five SOCAN awards, and one Brit Award. He was also nominated for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards for his song "Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey.
As for Sam Levinson, he is best known for creating the critically acclaimed HBO teen drama series Euphoria, which earned him a BAFTA TV Award nomination. Levinson is also known for writing and directing the comedy-drama film Another Happy Day, the thriller Assassination Nation, and the romantic drama film, Malcolm & Marie.
Will YOU be watching The Idol?